mister pinkie
by raruje
Summary: /rewritten/ about a lady who wasn't that much of a lady anyway, and a soldier with pink hair. AU
1. 01

_A/N: I lost my previous account themanliestman where this story was originally kept. Not only did I lose the password, I also lost control of the email account that I used for it. So, it's lost. Maybe not entirely, but I'm lazy trash and don't feel like losing my hair over recovering it. So I made a new one._

_I forgot all about this thing until i found a file on my laptop that had like five chapters of unfinished draft of this story. so i felt like working on it again and here it is. i tweaked this a bit. big changes are found on the dinner scene but that's about it. and i changed a bit of sakura's parents dialogues. mebuki and kizashi werent introduced yet back in 2011._

_/rewritten/ published sometime during 2011 (i think) on another account. that account is mine, i swear. but Naruto and it's characters aren't. obviously._

_and for new readers, it's mulan inspired._

* * *

**01 pink lady**

* * *

Sakura stared in horror at the pink kimono in front of her. There was no way she was going to look good in this. No way in hell. She picked up the kimono and stared at it nervously. Wasn't it a little too—pink? As if her hair wasn't pink enough. They should have just picked a red one or a yellow one. Anything a little less…pink. She will stand out like a sore thumb in the Uchiha compound. Everybody knows the standard Uchiha Clan look: dark hair, dark eyes, both of which are made even darker with pale skin. And what, she was going to step in there with her pink hair and green eyes? And now there was this pink kimono to boot. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

There was a knock on her door followed by her mother's voice, "Sakura! Are you ready yet?"

"Not yet, mom!" Sakura called out, then hastily added, "Isn't this kimono a little too…bright?"

"What are you talking about? It's perfect!" Her mother exclaimed, "It complements your hair,"

"It does not," Sakura sighed, "It _matches _my hair. It will make me look like the latest fashion faux pas of the century. Didn't you say I had to make a good impression to the Uchihas?"

"Sakura, you're just nervous. That kimono will look stunning on you!"

But Mom, I—"

"Sakura. Stop complaining and get ready. Tardiness isn't very ladylike, don't you think so?"

Sakura sighed, and stared at the kimono with a frustrated expression. When she heard footsteps outside her door, she knew her mother had left. Sakura wore a thin white robe before donning the pink kimono. She fastened it at the waist with a brilliant red obi and stared at herself in the mirror. Yup, as expected. She looked like an over decorated Christmas tree. She pinned up her long pink hair into a bun and secured it with a black ribbon. Then she picked out the dullest hair ornament she could find. Her hair was already pretty distracting. She didn't need an overly shiny hair ornament to make things worse. Her mother barged in a few seconds later to pile on layers of makeup on her face. Sakura wasn't against makeup. She _liked _wearing a little makeup here and there. But to _pile _it all on?!

By the time it was all done, she looked nothing like herself. Her mother took great pains to conceal the dark circles under her eyes—the product of countless nights of staying up reading. Her lipstick was pink. The shimmery eye shadow on her eyelids were pink. She was going to be the pink clownfish in a sea of blue and black sharks.

After leaving the room and rolling her eyes at the exaggerated gasps of delight from both her father, Kizashi, and mother, Mebuki, Sakura was off to whatever fate had in store for her tonight. From all that she heard about the clan and the boy she was supposed to impress, she doubted anything resembling a fairytale awaited her.

The Uchiha Clan is one of the biggest and most honourable clans in the Land of Fire, followed closely by the Hyuga Clan. The clan leader is a stiff, by-the-rules kind of man named Uchiha Fugaku with a stern face and an ever present frown. Sakura only saw him twice, and he was scowling at both times. His wife is Uchiha Mikoto, a very distant relative of his. They had a son, and Sakura was chosen as a potential wife for him. Today's dinner was meant to give them a chance to actually meet in person and get to know each other. Of course, none of this was final, and they could always reconsider the engagement if worse came to worst.

Sakura looked glumly at the passing houses outside the car window. Large houses were slowly turning into enormous mansions and manors. The Uchiha Clan lives at the outskirts of the village, in a large gated compound with more than fifty large houses. The largest one is at the very middle, and that was Sakura's destination. She wiped her palms on her kimono, hoping they wouldn't sweat so much. She could see the bright lights just ahead of them. They were almost at the Uchiha Compound.

_I'm going to be sick…' _

Sakura fanned herself, trying to settle her nerves. It wasn't working.

_I'm going to be so sick…'_

They stopped in front of a large manor in the middle of the compound

_Fuck…I'm going to throw up…'_

The driver opened the door and held his hand out to her

_I should have just killed myself while I had the chance'_

She accepted his hand

_'Here goes nothing…'_

Good morning, Lady Haruno," A stern looking woman wearing a dark blue kimono greeted her at the front door. Her voice was blank and unemotional. There was nothing enthusiastic about the greeting at all. The woman's eyes landed briefly on her hair, then she turned away, telling Sakura to follow. Sakura touched her hair self consciously before following the woman up the stairs. There were guests chatting at the hall. They were all finely dressed with lovely kimonos and tuxedoes. They all had black hair and dark clothes. Sakura glanced down at her bright pink kimono and focused her eyes determinedly on the floor, feeling the Uchihas' stares burning behind her back. So she was right. She was sticking out like a sore thumb amidst this sea of blacks and blues

Sakura almost breathed a sigh of relief when they left the hall, away from prying eyes. The woman stopped in front of a huge door, which, presumably, leads to another hall with more prying eyes and dark haired Uchihas. When the woman opened the door, Sakura sucked in her breath, for fear that she might lose control and make a run for the front gates. Unfortunately, the woman destroyed her original plan of discreetly sneaking inside by ordering a servant (with a microphone) to announce to her arrival to everyone in the hall

Everyone's eyes were instantly on her.

_Well, fuck_

Sakura was positively convinced that her face turned even pinker than her hair. She avoided everyone's gaze by keeping her eyes glued to the shiny floor as the woman led her towards her table. No one was whispering and pointing. No one was talking in hushed voices. They were all just staring at her with unemotional faces in complete silence.

The woman suddenly stopped, "Here is your table, Lady,"

"Thank you very much," Sakura raised her head and her green eyes met onyx ones. She instantly hid her trembling hands behind her back.

"Good evening, Lady Haruno," It was Fugaku Uchiha. His voice was calm and still. It was terrifying

"Oh, uh, hey…" Sakura muttered incoherently. She turned to the woman who guided her, "So…uh…I have to…sit with them?"

The woman gave her a dry stare, "Of course. You are Lord Uchiha's guest for tonight. Where do you think you were supposed to sit?"

Sakura's face matched the colour of the Cherry Tomatoes on the table. She sat down on the empty seat beside a woman who she presumed was Uchiha Mikoto. Her long black hair was pinned up elegantly with sapphire hair ornaments and she was wearing a plain navy blue kimono with the Uchiha seal at the back. She smiled politely at Sakura. Not warmly. Not kindly. Just politely

Sakura swallowed hard, trying to force her hands to be still

"So, you are the only child of Haruno Kizashi and Mebuki," Fugaku's voice was very, very calm.

"Oh, yes," Sakura replied, trying to sound as polite as possible

Fugaku wasted no time interrogating her, "What are your interests, Lady?"

"Um…" Sakura stammered over this question. She had to make a good impression. A good impression. She mentally recalled every admirable thing about herself that she could, "I play a lot of shogi, and I can confidently say I'm pretty good at it. I read a lot of books, that's my hobby. I don't write or read poetry, but I dabble a bit on fiction writing. Um. My strong suits in the Academy are Literature and Science, though my History isn't bad—"

The reaction Sakura expected did not come. Instead, Fugaku was looking at her with furrowed brows. He interrupted her tense little narration, "Literature. Science. Those are optional courses, correct?"

"Yes," Sakura knew she was saying something wrong, but she couldn't quite point out what, "I am taking a lot of optional courses because I loaded on credits during my first two years in the Academy. One of the Instructors, Sir Iruka, was very kind to guide me on the courses I could take,"

"I expect you received some opposition from some Instructors when you expressed your wishes to take optional courses?"

Fugaku's voice was mild and calm, but Sakura couldn't help feeling that she was walking straight into a trap. "I did, yes. Some of the older Instructors, especially, were quite passionate in their opposition, though I frankly don't understand why—"

"I do," Fugaku cut in, and the sudden shift of his tone and the coldness of his stare made Sakura feel smaller than she really was, "Because those optional courses are meant for sons. Boys. Dabbling on one shouldn't be a problem, but to take on all of them—no wonder your Instructors were opposed, Lady. I'd be surprised if your parent's aren't. Surely they know?"

"They do," _Wrong answer, Sakura, _"Father and Mother don't mind,"

Fugaku's stare was definitive. Conclusive. He didn't like her. "I see, then I that's all I need to know about you, Lady,"

She didn't like the way he said it. She felt mortified.

After the brief silence ensued, the Lady Uchiha Mikoto felt that it was her turn to torture the prisoner. She turned to Sakura, all prim and gorgeous in her Uchiha-ness, and gave her a smile.

Sakura was horrified.

"Do you have any more interests, Dear?" She asked, "_Ikebana_? Tea Ceremony?"

_This! This is your chance to set things right!_

But then she blurted out, "Fencing, and a bit of _Aikido_,"

Mikoto started in her seat, but then relaxed and smoothed her prim lady face back into place, "I see. That's very interesting, Dear,"

The silence that followed after that was overwhelming. Fugaku sipped on his tea, not looking at her. Mikoto was eating lightly, dabbing a napkin on her chin once in a while. Sakura's hands were shaking madly now. She grabbed one of the forks on the table and started eating her Cherry Tomatoes. It was a bit bland compared to the food she was used to, but she didn't even notice. Her mouth felt dry and her fingers felt numb.

"That's the wrong fork you're using,"

Sakura looked up, "Huh?"

"That's the wrong fork," The boy repeated. She examined him briefly and intently, or as intently as one could in this kind of situation. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a frigid expression that suggested enough warmth as being inside a run-down house with broken windows on the night of a particularly violent snow storm. Sakura dropped her gaze back to her Cherry Tomatoes, hoping he would do the same.

"Hello, Sasuke," Mikoto's voice was warm as her son sat down on the only remaining vacant seat at the table.

Sakura almost choked on her food. _'Sasuke?! He's Sasuke…?'_

"You must be Sakura," His voice was dripping with all the pompousness and bad breeding in the entire Uchiha bloodline combined, "Haven't you ever had fine dining lessons?"

Sakura looked down at her food, guessing which one of the forks was the correct one. When she grabbed the wrong one yet again, Sasuke's cold stare shifted into an icy sneer. "I guess not," He said, taking his own fork, the correct one, and started eating his dinner.

Sakura felt her face go hot. Suddenly, the room seemed so small. She felt small, too. _Mother of all that is merciful. I've been thrust into the very heart of hell._

"Do you do traditional dancing, my dear?" Mikoto asked, breaking the suffocating silence that was beginning to settle on their table.

_Say yes! Yes! You pink haired ingrate!_

"No,"

"Any instruments? The _shamisen_, or the piano?"

_Boom, second chance! Say it! Say it now!_

"No,"

When Mama iceberg ceased to reply, Baby iceberg felt compelled to add his own input, "Do you _even do_ anything?"

_Dancing! Say Dancing!_

"I do Fencing," _And I can damn well kick your ass in it, too. I think. _

"Funny, me too," But his voice didn't sound funny. At all. Sakura could tell she walking into a trap again. "I beat my instructor at age 11,"

"I beat mine at age 15," She countered.

His haughty expression turned into a sneer, "You actually have an instructor? I wonder what kind of wonderful parents you have,"

"Thank you for the interest, Sir," She said coldly, "If I were to describe my parents, it would take a while. Because then I'd have to mention every positive adjective in the world, and it probably still wouldn't be enough,"

He took a few seconds to reply. Sakura suspected what she said was too blindingly holy and good for his evil heart that he was momentarily put into a state of muteness. He recovered quickly enough. "I wonder about that. If they really are as wonderful as you claim, it's a wonder why you turned out like this,"

What was _this? _A prospective marriage dinner that has quickly turned into a battle of whichever clan heir threw the best insult? In the number of supporters, she was also losing. She could hear snips of conversation going on in the nearest tables.

"Look at her hair,"

A giggle, then, "The color is _ridiculous_,"

"I bet that's not natural,"

"It's a wig,"

More giggles.

"Enough about me," Sakura said, sweetly. And through gritted teeth. "I want to know more about you, Sir,"

"I am an Uchiha," He said, as if that gave him all the excuses in the world to be an asshole.

"And you drank coffee before you came here," She remarked, "You came here in a hurry, probably from training. And you don't get well with your sibling. A pity. Good relations with the whole family should be encouraged in such a big clan, like yours,"

Fugaku and Mikoto looked confused with her seemingly mindless babbling, but Sasuke was looking at her with furrowed brows. He was in the middle of eating and his hand, still holding his fork, was suspended midway between his plate and his mouth.

"And fond of travelling, are you, Lord Uchiha?" She continued, completely aware of his discomfort, but ignoring it all the same, "Been somewhere else, lately, haven't you? Let's see—somewhere beyond the outer borders of the Land of Earth?"

This time, even Fugaku looked tense.

"Wait, wait, it wasn't some vacation, wasn't it? Military business? Clan business? Something like that? Your life must be so interesting, Sir. I envy you. I am, after all, often stuck in our manor,"

Fugaku butted in, but without his usual stoic composure and coldness. He looked tense and slightly nervous. Sakura realized she preferred him this way. He wasn't half as frightening when he was squirming in his chair like a trapped hare. "Where did you get that information, Lady? And when?"

Sakura feigned a look of confusion. She knew it helped to look dumb. "Why just now, Sir!"

"I'm afraid I don't follow,"

Sakura smiled at the family sweetly. Then she pointed at Sasuke's wrist watch, "The time on your watch is wrong, Sir. And didn't I mention that I'm quite well read? My memory is quite hazy, but I'm fairly sure that would be the time at this very moment if we were on the other side of the globe. Land of Earth was just a lucky guess, though, since I doubt there'd be much of interest further on. You don't seem like the type of person who wears watches just for appearances, so the wrong time suggests you'd been away for some time, had just come back, and because of pressing matters which are unknown to me, were too busy to set it right,"

"You knew it was a Military operation," Fugaku put in, bewilderment resting on his voice.

"I do _now, _since you have kindly mentioned it, but I certainly didn't before,"

"Then how—" It was Sasuke this time.

She cut him off, and replied coldly, "With a bit of common sense, Sir. I noticed Lord Uchiha, your Father, seemed surprised that I knew you had travelled far, which wouldn't be the case if you simply went on a vacation, or something like that, because a well-off clan like yours obviously has a considerable number of servants, and having lots of them means having an extensive gossip network right under your noses. My knowing about a trivial affair such as a vacation shouldn't be too surprising. So judging by his surprised reaction, it is more likely a private Clan business. Or a Military one, since your clan leads the Leaf's Military,"

Then to spite them all, she added in her most saccharine voice, "It's simple, really,"

Fugaku settled back slightly, though he made no further inquiries, nor did he say anything else to the pink-haired Lady. Sakura had to push down the smugness that threatened to overflow.

"Or are you just a stalker?" Sasuke sneered, refusing to believe that she had just guessed all that information based on the time of his watch and his Father's reaction. Refused to believe she was smart.

"Are you talking about the coffee?" She asked. She was hoping he would. She did this so she could wipe the floor with his ego after all.

Without further preamble, she grabbed his wrist, pushed up the sleeve of his black dinner coat he wore to fully reveal the cuff of his white inner shirt. Sure enough, there was a dark brown stain there. Then she gestured under the table, "Your boots have dried traces of mud at the bottom, probably you just wiped them with a rug on your way here. I just assumed you came from the training fields, that was a lucky guess. Also, I knew you came in a hurry because if you had time to stop by your room you would have noticed the coffee stain and changed your inner shirt, and changed your training boots into dinner shoes, and why would you wear training boots if you weren't actually doing some outdoor work? Lucky guess, all of those were,"

Sasuke's voice was flat as he replied. "And my relationship with my brother must be from rumors,"

"On the contrary, I haven't even heard of you before this," Sakura corrected him, matching his flat tone with a biting one, "I have heard of your parents, but not you. And your relationship with your sibling? It's all in your rings."

She pointed at the rings on his fingers, "I know it's customary for big clans like yours and the Hyugas to wear rings for each immediate family member they have. Your parents each wear five. Three on the right, two on the left. The only rings they have in common are the two on the left, which must represent family members they have in common, which would be their kids. The other three rings must represent their respective parents and each other, their spouse. The two rings they have in common are shaped to those of a thunderbolt and a crow. You, Sir, only wear two rings which is neither the thunderbolt nor the crow, so those rings must represent your parents. If you didn't wear the rings at all, I'd merely attribute it to forgetfulness or unwillingness to wear jewelry, but since you wear your parents' rings but not your sibling's, I just assumed you don't get along. Unless you lost it?

She only realized it just then but the dining hall was silent and the guests nearest to their table were probably listening in.

He probably knew it to because he said his next retort in a loud voice, "You have the makings of a typical, gossipy witch. I doubt even a marriage into the Uchiha can make you decent enough,"

"I wouldn't want a marriage with anyone in this clan," She didn't care anymore. Let each and every rude, insensitive Uchiha hear it. Fugaku pretended he didn't hear it. Mikoto pursed her lips and looked down.

"I wouldn't want my sons to have pink hair,"

The female guests nearby started giggling.

"I asked a lot of people about you before coming here," Sakura replied. By _a lot of people_ she meant, Ino, her best friend, who came from a large clan herself and knew the Uchiha from the many inter-clan gatherings they had, "And from what I heard, I didn't think you'd even be capable of fathering sons,"

High class attitude and etiquette was instantly forgotten as hoots erupted from a nearby tabled occupied by various young gentlemen. Laughing the loudest among them was a blue-eyed blond with a halfway unbuttoned tuxedo. The girls in the room were silent, looking at each other questionably. They were rooting for the Uchiha heir while the boys were clearly on the pink-haired girl's side. Sasuke smirk turned into a sneer, and Sakura was almost sure that his cheeks had turned slightly red.

"What is that supposed to mean," It wasn't a question. More of a threat, really.

"It means a lot of people think you're a frigid iceberg in human form, which I see to be true based on tonight's events, and—" She started laughing, "—that you have the sexual drive of a dead tree,"

The boys were laughing uncontrollably now while the girls were flashing Sakura murderous looks. With one final resentful glance at Sasuke, she stood up and left the hall.

* * *

Haruno Mebuki was noticeably disappointed. Sakura felt it in the silence that hovered over the table like fog during breakfast. Kizashi broke the silence now and then with a clever little pun. Sakura tried to laugh. Mebuki tried her best not to laugh. Sakura, so unused to the household being so silent, took a day off from cooping herself up in the library and hung out with her friends instead.

"Very funny, Pig," Sakura grumbled, hugging her knees tightly against her chest.

Ino Yamanaka, daughter of Inoichi Yamanaka, heiress of the entire Yamanaka Clan, was an elegant, intelligent, well-bred lady of nineteen with considerable skills in Ikebana and traditional dancing. And now she was rolling on the grass, laughing at her bestfriend's unfortunate plight.

Hinata Hyuga, who sat between the two, was torn between sharing Ino's mirth or Sakura's sombre mood. She went with her usual tactic: the neutral.

"We shouldn't laugh, Ino. Sakura feels so bad right now," She admonished quietly.

"But you have to admit, it's hilarious! Admit it, Hinata!" Ino snickered. "I mean, I was the one who told her about that dead tree sex drive thing, but if I knew Sakura was going to say it to his face, wait, no—to his entire family's face—I would've told her something even more horrible!"

Sakura sighed, "I'm beyond saving,"

"It is rather funny," Hinata remarked, an amused smile on her face.

"You know," Sakura turned to Ino, "Why didn't they just choose you, Ino? I mean, the Haruno clan is barely known and I bet anybody who's anybody has heard of the famous Yamanakas,"

"Daddy wouldn't allow it," Ino pouted, "He says there's something about Sasuke he doesn't like,"

Sakura whistled. "As expected of the head of the Interrogation Department,"

"But really," Ino propped herself up with her elbows and grinned at her bestfriend, "You really outdid yourself this time, Forehead. When we were in primary school you couldn't even stand up to that bitch whatsername—ah, Ami, was it?—and now you're making enemies with the son of the most powerful clan in the country. Your improvement is incredible. I'm so proud of you, Forehead,"

Sakura shuddered, "Yes, I just made an Uchiha hate me. Quit reminding me, Pig,"

"Change topic, then!" Ino turned to the Hyuga girl. She propped her chin on her hand and smirked slyly at her. Hinata looked disconcerted, "What is it, Ino?"

"Guess who the next marriage candidate will be, Forehead," Ino said.

"Eh? Hinata? Really?" Sakura turned to her dark-haired friend, who turned pale (as opposed to her usual blush).

"Yes," The Hyuga sighed, looking very troubled, "I'm scared, honestly. Hanabi is too young and since our Father recently made her heiress, I'm the one that has to go. What if he humiliates me? I think I'll—I'll—" Her head sank and her shoulders drooped, "—I think I'll just cry on the spot,"

"He won't do it," Ino snorted, "I'm betting my position as Yamanaka heiress that if Uchiha Sasuke dares to treat you less than a queen with four countries under your wing your Lord Cousin will make mincemeat out of him,"

Hinata giggled, "Oh, Neji wouldn't do that. He's far too kind,"

_Yeah, to you. _Sakura thought with a shudder. She was fairly sure that if it was Neji Hyuga in the place of Sasuke Uchiha that night, she wouldn't have composed herself enough to insult him. There was just something inexplicably scary about Hinata's older cousin. Though she knew Hyuga Neji wouldn't have insulted her, either. He would just stay quiet, make polite conversation if pushed to, and keep his criticisms in his head.

The three girls' conversation was muffled by the blaring of drums and trumpets. Activity in the village seemed to cease as well. The large village gates opened and dozens of sleek black cars rolled in, startling everyone. The cars stopped in front of the Hokage Tower, and everyone in the village stopped what they were doing to watch. The door of the first car opened, and out stepped a thin man with pale, pasty skin. He was wearing the clothes of nobleman.

"Who is that creep?" Ino muttered, referring to the thin man.

Before Sakura could reply, the doors of the Hokage Tower opened, and a beautiful blond woman stepped out, looking furious and maniacal, like she wanted to eat somebody. She was the Fifth Hokage, Lady Tsunade

"What do you want, Orochimaru?" She hissed at the pale man.

He held up his hands a bit, trying to appease her, "Just delivering orders from the Lord of the Land of Fire,"

"Then spit it out,"

Ino tried not to gape. She had heard (from Sakura) about the Lady Hokage's spitfire personality but never had the chance to see it for herself before. Everyone knew the Hokage disliked Orochimaru. He had a major position in the Leaf's Military and was once deemed worthy enough to be Hokage. But then, Tsunade was chosen and he was among the ones who looked upon coldly at the fact that she was a _woman. _

A threat is approaching the Land of Fire," He began, "There are rumours that the Land of Water is planning a war against us. There are also rumours that the Land of Wind is building an army. Some of the minor Lands surrounding us might take advantage of this war and pull us down. And as for the Land of Earth, we still don't know where their loyalties lie. Attempts of peace towards the Land of Earth haven't been responded too positively."

_Attempts of peace towards the Land of Earth, _Sakura recalled Sasuke's trip to the Land of Earth. Did it have something to do with it?

"The relationships between the Lands have been deteriorating badly for the last fifteen years. Leaf merchants have been found dead in the harsh deserts of the Land of Wind, not because of the desert itself, but because the soldiers from the Sand killed them. Tons of Mist guards have infiltrated the borders of the Land of Fire and many have died. The Land of Earth seemed neutral to all this, but their strong connection to the Land of Water cannot be ignored, either. If the Land of Earth and Water _do _collaborate against us, then we are surrounded. Attacked on both sides, based on the geographical location of our land,"

Everybody expected this war to come sooner or later. But still, everyone was paralyzed by shock

"Continue," Tsunade told him.

"The Lord of the Land of Fire wanted me to deliver a special message," Tsunade didn't like the way Orochimaru was grinning when he said this, "He said that our armies are not enough to fight a force from two or more Lands. He and his advisors have no idea where to get such a great amount of soldiers to join the army in less than three months. So he has a proposal for all of you,"

Tsunade swallowed a bit, "And what might that proposal be?"

"He proposed that one man from every family must step up and join the army,"

Murmurs of indignation rose from the surrounding villagers. Even Tsunade looked stunned. Next to her, her apprentice Shizune stood slack-jawed and pale faced. Ino balled her hands into fists, wondering tensely which one of her cousins would be chosen to go.

Sakura wasn't any better off. She recalled her clumsy father laughing as he stumbled over some microscopic root in the forest, hitting the dirty ground face first as his and her laughter echoed in the wide forest. Her father fighting to keep his eyes open as he sits in front of a fireplace, listening to Sakura's rather childish lamentations about her forehead. Haruno Kizashi was clumsy, at times childlike, and much too kind for his own good. Sakura couldn't imagine how he would ever fit in a war. He fit in much better in their humbly built manor, bickering over Mebuki Haruno over trivial things. He was hesitant at first when Mebuki agreed to hire a fencing instructor for Sakura, because he didn't like the idea of anything that could be violent. But he agreed in the end, because he was kind. He always was.

But he could ignore it. Ignore the call.

_No, he cannot. _She recalled her disastrous dinner with the Uchihas that night. Why was she in that position again? Ah yes, because their little clan of three was close to losing their clan seal and nobility, and her engagement to the spiteful Uchiha brat was supposed to integrate their clan under the Uchihas wing. If he ignored this war call, they'd lose everything. So he had to.

She felt Hinata's hand on her shoulder, "Sakura?"

Blurry vision, light-headedness, weak knees, feeling like I'm going to vomit. What does this mean again? Think, Sakura, you're the smartest in the Academy.

"Hinata," She turned to look at the Hyuga girl's worried eyes. "I'm going to faint,"

And she did.

* * *

When Sakura woke up, it was late. The sky was pitch black, save for a few pinpricks of light from the stars. Even the moon felt like hiding.

"Sakura," It was Mebuki. Her face just looked like faint outlines in the dark. "You fainted,"

"I know," Sakura sat up, "How did I get back?"

"Ino and Hinata brought you back," Mebuki answered, dipping a washcloth in a basin of warm water by the bedside and wiping it over Sakura's brow, "With the help of a nice gentleman,"

"Who was he?"

Mebuki shrugged, "He didn't leave a name,"

"Is Father going?"

"He must,"

"Maybe he shouldn't,"

Mebuki smiled at her, "He must,"

Sakura looked down at her hands. Small, slender, a bit worn from _aikido._ "That's not true. He can refuse,"

"You know that's not true,"

Silence, then,

"It's my fault,"

"It's not,"

"You know that's not true," Sakura wished for a bit of light, just enough to see Mebuki's expression.

"He insulted you," Mebuki said, "I only kept my temper because I knew you insulted him back. If you had kept quiet and let him do as he pleased I would have stormed the Uchiha compound when I found out the next morning,"

"I wish I could've seen that," Sakura grinned.

Mebuki smiled. She wiped Sakura's brow again, "Sleep now,"

Sakura nodded, "I will,"

She lay back and let her mother put her blanket over her. Mebuki closed the curtains before leaving the room. When the house was safely still, Sakura rose, walking lightly across the room and lit the lamp on her dresser. She had to be quick before she got caught or before she changed her mind. Nerves of steel, this plan needed, and she just didn't have it. But it was easier to pretend she did under the cover of this moonless darkness.

She touched her long, pink locks. Years ago, she decided to grow out her hair like Ino (ultimately, Hinata joined in) and they always compared their locks in front of a mirror. In a way, it was something that could be considered a remembrance of their friendship. She retrieved a small knife from her drawer, burned the image of herself with long hair into her memory, and took a fistful of her locks.

It's a shame, but it would have to go.

.

**TBC**


	2. 02

A/N: fast update because the chapter 2 draft was nearly finished anyway. thanks for the reviews, btw! and yeah, the mulan plot. i used it. i like mulan :)

(btw what is a multi-saku? a guest left a review asking if this story is a multi-saku. i don't know what multi-saku means?)

* * *

**02 little boy; big battlefield**

* * *

"Uhm. I think he's dead,"

"You think so? What a pain," A different, slightly drowsy voice replied.

Then Sakura felt something blunt touch her forehead. "Hello? Hello?" Came the loud voice again.

She opened her eyes and saw the blunt end of a stick. She looked up, squinting her eyes against the bright rays of sunlight filtering in through the gaps between the trees. Looming directly above her was a pair of bright blue eyes set on a tan face that didn't quite belong there. A mop of messy blond hair topped of his head and when he grinned, a trace of a boyish child shone through. Not the kind of person you'd see joining a war.

His companion was a lazy looking guy with a tan travelling bag hanging casually over his shoulder. He regarded Sakura with a look of very mild, barely-there curiosity.

"Whoah," The blond boy suddenly put his face right in front of Sakura's. "Where have I seen you before?"

Sakura shoved him away lightly, sat up, and rubbed her forehead. Her head was aching.

"Haruno," The lazy looking boy suddenly said and Sakura stiffened. "Haruno, right? You look an awful lot like that girl in the Uchihas' prospective marriage dinner,"

"Ahh!" Blonde boy suddenly exclaimed, which caused Sakura's head to throb worse than ever, "You're from Miss Pinkie's family, aren't you?! Whoah, and I thought all Uchihas looked the same!"

"You're talking about my cousin," Sakura silently thanked her mother for piling on five layers of makeup on her face and forcing her to wear that ridiculous kimono and hair ornament. She must look a lot different right now, with her hair shorn off unflatteringly short and her face tanned by travel and dirt from the forest.

"Who are you?" She assumed a more gruff, gravelly voice.

"Namikaze Naruto," The blond shoved his outstretched hands right in her face, "Pleased to meet ya', Haruno—..?"

"Akira," Sakura supplied, feeling a newfound twinge of nervousness. It was her first time using the fake name she'd picked out.

"Nara Shikamaru, then," Lazy guy offered. "You don't stay in Leaf, do you? I haven't seen you around.

"I'm from Waterfall," She said, ready to burst right into an exact description of the place she lived, the closest landmarks, the name of the district, et cetera. From a certain point of view, having a wide forehead isn't such a bad thing when it can house a brilliant memory. Certainly handy in situations where you pretend you're a different person. From a far off place. With a different sex. To join the military. With the punishment of being executed and worse, having your family shamed, if you are caught. Very convenient, this enormous forehead is.

Naruto assisted her as she tried to get up. "So—did you faint? Were you sleeping?"

Sakura sighed, "I got lost. It was pretty early when I left and the darkness screwed up my sense of direction. I got tired so I slept it off,"

Shikamaru stared at her curiously, "Wonder why you left at dark when you could've waited until morning. Strange guy, aren't you,"

"Ah! He wanted to get to camp before everyone else!" Naruto exclaimed, "Bit competitive, aren't you, Akira?"

"And slept on the forest just like that," Shikamaru remarked. "Pretty bold of you, considering dead Leaf merchants turn up now and then. Who knows how many Sand rats are crawling around right now. This stupid war is such a drag,"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Look who's talking. You sleep _everywhere_, Shikamaru,"

While the two were arguing, Sakura took the time to examine them. She recognized the blond, Naruto, from the Uchihas' dinner, and based on his last name, he was the son of Namikaze Minato, who was formerly the Fourth Hokage, led the Leaf to numerous victories in war, before surprising everyone by proposing to leave his seat and settling for a major position in the Leaf military. Sakura met him a few times in the Hokage tower, and was surprised that such a mild-mannered gentleman had such a loud, obnoxious son. But then again, she hasn't met the Lady Namikaze yet, and basing on what she heard about her, this Naruto person must have inherited a bit more of his mother's personality than his father's.

She recognized the name Nara Shikamaru from her conversations with Ino. He was, from what she could recall, a good friend of Ino's and practically family.

When he saw her stifling a yawn, he said, "You can get the rest of your sleep in a few. If I read the map correctly, that must be the camp,"

Though the tiring night she spent in the forest made her forget the real problem, it all came rushing back to slap her in the face the moment the camp came into view. Uniformed men everywhere, large tents with the seal of the Land of Fire and the Leaf filled the encampment, everyone she met was taller than she was, and she couldn't help the feeling of fear that was starting to pool into her stomach. _Idiot, you musn't faint. You got past the gate. You're walking around and nobody's pointing or staring. You're safe. Just chill. Just calm down. You have very limited male friends, nobody's going to recognize you, nobody—_

"_Shit," _Sakura swore, taking a fraction of a step backwards.

Standing in front of the Captain's tent was a familiar tall figure dressed in dark, military clothes. Black hair and black eyes set on a pale, angular face. All too familiar.

Uchiha Sasuke looked around with mild, concealed interest, actually looking more affable than when she first met him, but that didn't mean his presence still didn't scare the daylights out if her. Almost subconsciously, she pulled her hat lower to her eyebrows, in an attempt to conceal her pink hair. She fluffed her collar out nervously with quick, panicky movements. Naruto didn't seem to notice but Shikamaru did.

"You alright there, Haruno?" He raised a brow at her.

"Yeah," Sakura replied squeakily.

Shikamaru followed her line of vision and his stare landed on the Uchiha. He turned back at her, "Ah, yes, Sasuke. Your cousin would have told you about him,"

"She did," Sakura swallowed hard. Her dislike towards the Uchiha heir was momentarily overpowered by her fear of being noticed and ultimately discovered. "She—ah—didn't like him that much,"

Which was a massive understatement,

"Ugh, the asshole is here," Naruto made a sour face. He had finally noticed Sasuke.

"Let's go before he sees us," Sakura jumped at the opportunity, "I don't fancy an encounter with the guy,"

"Oh, yeah...your cousin," Naruto grinned, remembering the pink-haired marriage candidate that had caused plenty of inside jokes between him and Kiba (that consisted of insults directed towards Sasuke's manhood).

The trio skirted around the large tent, away from the dark haired boy. When he was finally more than twenty meters away from them, Sakura's tensed shoulders relaxed. They followed a few new Privates who were more than willing to show them to their tents. The assigning of tent-mates, much to Sakura's chagrin, was in alphabetical orders according to their last names. This caused Naruto to go on a riot.

"Whaaaaaat?!" His mouth hung open as he placed his face within inches in front of the poor Specialist's face, "What are we supposed to do with Akira?!"

"Hey, it's alright, Naruto—" But Sakura was crestfallen as well. _Nara...Namikaze..._they would be tent-mates, leaving her, _Haruno_, behind.

It was hard enough that she didn't know anyone else here, and just when she met people she was comfortable with, it turns she was living separately anyway. Sakura wondered, selfishly, if it would have saddened her less if Shikamaru and Naruto were also separated.

"Hey, hey, Akira's just come back from Waterfall village, y'know," Naruto said, wildly raising his arms to further emphasize his point, "He doesn't know anyone from here! Can't you let him stay with us or something—"

"Hey, Naruto," Shikamaru interrupted him before the Specialist keeled over in fright, "Akira will be with Kiba. Look here,

And sure enough:

_Hakuzoku_

_Haruno_

_Hirosaki_

_Inari_

_Inuzuka_

"Oh," That seemed to placate Naruto for a while, "Alright then, never mind," He said cheerfully to the pale faced Specialist. Then he turned to Sakura, "We know Kiba. He's okay. C'mon, we'll introduce you. I'm pretty sure Kiba doesn't know the rest of the sods that you'll be sharing the tent with, either,"

Inuzuka Kiba turned out to be more troublesome than Sakura thought he would.

Not only did she look familiar to him, he said that she _smelled _vaguely familiar too. He sniffed the air around the tent in a weirdly canine-like fashion before quirking a brow and saying, "You smell like a girl,"

"Better than smelling like a dog," Sakura wrinkled her nose, but she was slightly pale-faced.

* * *

Sakura laid her sleeping bag beside Kiba's, and had the good sense to observe how the other boys in the tent laid out theirs, so she could copy what they were doing. Kiba threw her an extra pillow and a much thicker blanket than the one she brought with her.

"Thanks," She said, fluffing it up, pleased with the softness.

"Thank the Uchihas," Kiba replied as he zipped up his pack and laid it aside, "They're the ones who supplied most of the extra goods. We don't have to worry about food and stuff like that for at least a month,"

Sakura zipped up her pack and looked around the tent, wondering where to stash it. She wondered if boys opened each other's packs, and was worried about someone opening hers and seeing the..._essentials..._she had stuffed down at the very bottom. She finally decided to sleep with her pack. She placed it alongside her and pulled the blankets over it.

Hours passed, and she still couldn't sleep. It felt kind of alarming—she was smack dab in the middle of a war camp with only a tent to protect her from night raids that could happen at many minute. She didn't know anyone, no Ino, no Hinata, no one at all to help her if worse came to worst. She had to deal with training tomorrow, she had to keep up with much stronger guys who spent their whole lives preparing for this, she had to protect herself from the Sand enemies, _and _conceal her identity at the same time. She felt incredibly tired just thinking about it.

In the end, she got only about four measly hours of sleep, though the fatigue was instantly replaced by gut-wrenching nervousness as she left the tent with Kiba.

"Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to sleeping like this," The Inuzuka complained, rubbing his sore back.

Sakura didn't even feel how uncomfortable a sleeping bag was, because she was up all night dreading training. "Where do we head first?"

"Shooting grounds," Inuzuka replied, and Sakura nearly jumped up in relief.

Shooting! She was handy with a gun. She used to tag along with Ino and her father to the Leaf's Training Grounds to practice shooting with them. Ino was actually loads better, but Sakura knew she could at least shoot decently enough.

At least, for now, she didn't have to worry about competing with actual male physical strength.

Shikamaru and Naruto were already at the Shooting grounds. Naruto waved to them and they all gathered in one spot.

"You ready?" Naruto asked, a large grin on his face.

"He's been pumped up since four in the morning," Shikamaru said irritably, "Woke the whole tent and now everyone in there hates us. They hate, too, since I'm with him. What a drag, this war is,"

"Akira, you look really pale," Naruto commented, staring curiously at her.

"I'm—more of a scholar type," Sakura swallowed, looking at a pair of boys jostling each other quite brutally a few yards in front of them. "I'm okay with shooting, but I honestly—don't know about actual combat,"

"Oh, yeah, because you came from Waterfall," Naruto nodded, as if he understood something, "I've met some Waterfall boys, too. They're all typical country bumpkins. But you don't seem like a country boy, Akira, actually—" he squinted at her, and she squirmed uncomfortably, "—you must have lived in the finer parts of Waterfall, huh? You're not nearly as tan as they are. You spend a lot of time indoors, huh?"

"I read a lot," Sakura said, sweating profusely. Of course she didn't spend much time outdoors. Hardly any Lady ever did. She did her fencing and _aikido_ in their manor's training room, too.

Before Naruto could make any more surprisingly accurate deductions, they were all called to attention and lined up to face their targets. Her weapon was a typical, light pistol, like the ones she used for fun in the Leaf Training Grounds with Ino and her father. After wearing their headgear and ear protectors, they all started practice. Naruto and Kiba shot their targets down like maniacs, while Shikamaru seemed to like making a game out of it somehow—he shot where the head would have been, then the heart, then both feet—a game of how little bullets he needed to kill the target.

It struck Sakura just then how experienced all the other boys her age in the camp were.

"You alright, Haruno?" It was Shikamaru. He gave her a lazy stare, "You don't like guns?"

She shook her head.

"Just try, anyway," He muttered, lowering his arm, "I don't like this, either. But we have to. We're guys, after all. Someone's got to do this. I don't like women, you know—too annoying, always gossiping together in groups. But I don't want any of them to do this, you know. Holding guns, killing men—I wouldn't want any of them to have to do this."

Sakura looked at him, and smiled. He looked disconcerted, "What?"

"Nothing, I'm an idiot. And a coward," She laughed, then aimed at the target, "And you're right,"

The more bullets she fired, the more she felt at ease. Having Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba just a few feet away seemed to help, too. Of course, she didn't belong here. But they didn't know that. Even the more squeamish recruits were starting to loosen up, and sure enough, soon, everyone felt comfortable enough with each other to encourage a bit of healthy competition.

Naruto scoffed, "What's _that, _Shikamaru? Your pretend Sand guy doesn't look dead to me,"

"He's been dead minutes before yours did," Shikamaru replied dryly. Most of the bullet holes in Naruto's target were on the thighs down.

"Go for the head first, Naruto," Sakura added good naturedly.

"It's getting pretty rowdy in here," Kiba complained, "I mean I'm not against it, no, but shouldn't all those sods settle down a bit or something? We're holding guns here!"

"Since when did you get boring, Kiba?" Naruto scoffed, before yelling at the top of his lungs, "Hey, all you sods! You better shut up and quit your yapping because there's already a best shooter! And he's right here! Namikaze Naruto of the Leaf!"

"Ah, man," Shikamaru grumbled, sticking a finger in his left ear, "We have an idiot right here,"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura hissed, yanking his ear with enough force to make him whimper.

"Ow, ow, ow, damnit, Akira you asshole—!"

Kiba jeered, "Yes! Take him down, Haruno!"

"Man, what a drag,"

The noise suddenly subsided. Sakura and Naruto both looked up, forgetting their little feud, to see what inspired the sudden silence.

Sasuke walked in, his dark military coat billowing behind him. His presence alone seemed to command the respect of the Privates; the idle chatter and obnoxious jeers dissolving away as he came closer. He stopped in front of a target and stared at it, seemingly examining every detail and formulating conclusions in his head. Meanwhile, Sakura was pulling her hat lower again and fluffing up her collar.

"Who aimed this?"

"That Private, Sir, seventh one from the left,"

Shikamaru's target.

"And the one next to it was aimed by the sixth from the left?"

"Yes, Sir,"

Her target.

Sasuke's eyes shifted to their direction and she was forced to stop fiddling with her collar. He walked towards them, in a painfully slow, almost funeral march-like pace ('_her _funeral, not his', she thought gloomily). Sakura didn't think she could take the tense pressure any longer. She longed to do something her hands. She finally resorted to balling them into fists at her sides.

He stopped a few meters away, just enough to plant a seed of fear and tension in all the Privates assembled. Nobody wanted to displease an Uchiha.

"This, here—," He suddenly said, turning to face the rest of the Privates, his arm gesturing almost lazily towards the two targets"—is an example of fine shooting. No unnecessary flourishes, hits right on target, and doesn't waste time trying to shoot the whole target down. Your job isn't to shoot as many holes as you can. It's to shoot one hole at _exactly _the right spot at _exactly _the right time. That alone should bring your target down. Not to mention, it won't waste bullets. Or your time. There are plenty of other soldiers you could be killing with all those other bullets you lot have wasted,"

This time, his stare and voice had turned icy again. The Privates were all deathly silent.

He stared at their direction, and Sakura looked down at her feet, cursing herself for the sudden impulse to flee. She shut her eyes to calm herself. _I was wearing layers of foundation and makeup. I was practically wearing a different face. My hair was long. I was wearing a pink kimono. He won't recognize me. He thinks very badly of me. He won't expect me to waltz in here and endanger my life. He doesn't think honourably enough of me to assume I would do this. _

"Try not to waste bullets," He finally said, before turning and walking away like a spectre of ice and doom.

The rest of the shooting training was spent in relative silence.

"Wow, you don't know how hard it is to get Sasuke to say good stuff about someone," Naruto said when they were finally packing up for lunch.

"Yeah," Sakura replied absentmindedly, her insides still squirming.

"But what's even more amazing is _you, _Akira!" Naruto exclaimed, flinging his bag across his right shoulder. His brilliant blue eyes were fixed on her face, "You shoot so well! And when I first saw you, I didn't expect well—you're so short and all—but, erm—"

He trailed off as Sakura glared at him.

"You're much better than you look, Haruno," Shikamaru put in, saving Naruto's skin. "This guy—" He jabbed a thumb towards's Naruto's direction, "—is just one of those foolhardy ones that thinks size equals ability. Granted, you are rather short, but you never seemed like an idiot to me,"

Sakura mentally sent a flying kiss to a boy she had been dating a few years ago. He had turned out to be an ass but it was because of him that she tripled her efforts in her shooting and fencing. He always claimed to have fallen in love with her because she was amazing at fencing, and that idea spurred her on, eventually causing her to defeat her instructor at the young age of fifteen (she had mentioned this fact to the Uchihas during the matchmaking dinner. Wrong move).

Of course, in the end, he decided that he didn't want to continue dating such a manly girl and set his sights on Yamanaka Ino, who, of course, dumped him gracelessly. And thus, the legendary friendship between two equally frightening girls was born.

Their afternoon practice was of the worst kind: hand to hand combat. Sakura was pale faced as they entered the training grounds. Most of the boys were in high spirits, and some felt inclined to remove their shirts and army jackets to bare their muscular torsos to the world.

The ever competitive Naruto joined in too, removing his shirt in a flash and joining the shirtless throng. Kiba followed suit.

Sakura stared, almost pleadingly, at Shikamaru. But the Nara shook his head, "Not my area,"

And she almost sighed in relief.

Soon enough, they were asked not-too-kindly to settle down. After the incident with Sasuke Uchiha, the recruits were left considerably tamer and they all expressed no objections at being ordered. In minutes, they were all arranged in four lines. They were to be called up one by one to fight with a Specialist. There were also four lines of them. This seemed to flick a certain switch on in the boys and they were all doing stretches and exercises in their places. Most of them had their shirts off.

_Please don't make us take our shirts off_, Sakura thought, concentrating all her wishes on this one statement. She quickly formulated a plan, if her luck were to run out. _I could tell them baring my torso is against my religion or something._

Then she mentally smacked her head, _Moron. You're from Waterfall. The only known major religion in Waterfall is Jashinism. _She didn't think anyone in the camp would take that well.

Surprisingly, clumsy-footed Naruto was anything but clumsy in battle. He was even faster than Kiba and probably stronger, so that benefited him. Shikamaru was faster than he looked, but his advantages seemed to tilt towards the more strategic kind. He always seemed to know the right time to strike and despite his usual heavy-lidded look, his eyes were keen enough to figure out weak spots seconds within the fight. He took his opponents down faster than most.

When it was her turn, the only thing she was proud of with her fight was that her fists or legs didn't shake. She was taken down in half the time Naruto was, though.

"That's alright, lad," The Specialist pulled her up and smiled at her good-naturedly, "You must be some kind of scholar, though? Your wrists are quite small. You don't do much combat training, do you?"

Sakura resisted the urge to pull her hand away from his. "Yeah. Not really my area,"

"It's alright," The Specialist patted her back, "You're pretty fast, though. Your footwork is the best among these blokes,"

Sakura tried not to gape.

The Specialist, noticing her reaction, laughed, "It's true, boy. You do some sort of fancy swordplay? Fencing? It's obvious in your footwork. Very impressive. Good at dodging, too, almost like you know exactly where I plan to hit ya. A bit uncanny,"

Sakura felt herself puff up with pride, "Thanks you, Sir!"

"You've got talent. Work on it,"

"Thank you, Sir!" She gave a quick salute and went back to her line.

"Nice job, Haruno," Shikamaru remarked, tossing him a water flask.

"You were amazing, Akira!" Naruto said loyally.

By the time they were given permission to have dinner and retire to their tents, Sakura was aching all over.

"You coming, Akira?" Kiba asked, looking back at her.

"I'm going to the medic's tent," She told him, rubbing her side gingerly, "For some liniment,"

The medics all turned out to be total assholes, and told her to come back if she had a _real injury. _

"Assholes," Sakura grumbled under her breath after she was kicked out of the tent. She was a well-trained medic herself and she thought it was just plain blasphemy to withhold even just a bit of liniment to someone who was aching terribly all over. She headed to the messy dining area (which was just a wide open space with a few tables and chairs) to get something to eat. Sasuke was there, just a few yards away from where she was standing, but he seemed to ignore everybody else, anyway.

"You do fencing?"

Sakura was shocked when Sasuke spoke to her. She had to shake off the fog of confusion that was swirling in her head before she could find words, "Yeah. _Sir_," she tacked on hastily.

"Your fencing was incorporated rather strongly in your sword fight," He commented, "I was like that, too. And do you know Hyuga Neji?"

Sakura nodded. He was tall, pale, with dark hair and a handsome, angular face. Hinata spoke highly of him, Ino detested him (she was still yet to know the reason) and the rest thought he was amazing. Sakura included. Though he was polite to her on occasions when she visited the Hyuga home, he had never been particularly warm. He only acted human towards Hinata, and a certain thick-browed commoner boy from the Leaf that she didn't know. She hoped to heavens Neji wasn't here. The Hyuga boy didn't seem like the kind of person who could be fooled by an oversized military outfit and poorly hacked off hair. And he'd seen her at least twice before without makeup when she'd visited the Hyuga house. He'd probably be suspicious.

"He was so unaccustomed to fighting with weapons that he ended up tossing his sword aside and bringing down his opponent single-handedly with his fists," Sasuke relayed the information to her casually. Sakura suspected he wouldn't act as friendly as this if he knew she was a girl, "He did it within a span of eight seconds. He was used to bare-handed Martial Arts style,"

It was weird hearing him talking so casually. Especially since the last and first conversation they had was just a few paces away from becoming a full blown insult flinging contest. There was something incredibly irritating about seeing his nicer and more amiable side.

The question came so suddenly Sakura barely had time to react properly.

"Do you know a Lady Haruno Sakura?"

Sakura made a choking sound, rather like a dying animal.

Sasuke took this as a yes, "Relative?"

"Cousin," Sakura managed to say. He throat felt terribly dry.

Sasuke didn't reply, only nodded. When she finally composed herself, Sakura thought she'd plunge right in, "She was selected as a potential marriage candidate for you one time, I believe,"

Sasuke nodded, "That is true,"

Trying not to look too smug, she ploughed on, "We're close you see. Practically siblings. And Sakura's a nice person. I hope you treated her well,"

She tried to sound as civil and friendly as possible, as if she didn't know what happened on that fateful matchmaking dinner, but sounding nice was hard when she kept gritting her teeth in carefully concealed bitterness.

Sasuke chose to dodge the remark, saying instead, "You look very similar. It's almost uncanny,"

Sakura's throat got all dry again. _Karma, karma, so quick and fast, _so she decided to dodge that one, too, and said, "It's a clan thing. You Uchihas look the same,"

"True," Sasuke acknowledged, then added, "Family members tend to look similar. But I was actually talking about subtle things. The shape of your eyes and face, and come to think of it, even the lilt of your voices sound similar. Yours are just deeper,"

"Hey! Hey, Naruto!" Sakura started waving frantically at an invisible spectre (Naruto wasn't there), and proceeded to smack her fist (in what she hoped was a very manly way) against Sasuke's shoulder (apparently forgetting that he had a higher rank and this would have been quite improper) before swaggering away on her shaky legs, "Ah, that idiot, what's the point of having ears when stuff just float right past them. I'm heading over to the idiot, see 'ya, Uchiha. _Sir!_"

Sasuke nodded, eyebrows narrowed, apparently trying to see where 'Naruto' disappeared to. But Sakura was already stalking off. Sasuke stared curiously after him. Haruno Akira was walking away very fast, and with what seemed like an unnecessary amount of swagger in his step.

"Getting to know the Privates?"

Sasuke turned and met his own reflection. Almost. The chin was more angular, the hair was even darker, and the face had a friendlier look to it.

"Only the interesting ones," Sasuke replied.

Uchiha Itachi stared at Haruno Akira's retreating figure and frowned, "You mean only the strange ones? I've always thought that particular guy was strange,"

"His cousin is strange, for sure," Sasuke snorted, "Remember Miss Pinkie?"

"Of course, your little verbal spat has become the stuff of legends,"

"My private parts, you mean," Sasuke glowered, "Ever since that night, that idiot Naruto and the rest have been making up stupid stuff about my sex life. And my dick. All because of that foul-mouthed little—"

"Technically, you insulted her first," Itachi pointed out, tossing a grape into his mouth.

"Anyhow," Sasuke sniffed disdainfully, "It's interesting to note that her cousin is a decent person."

"Strange, though,"

"What do you mean?"

Itachi shrugged, "I don't know. I don't exactly get it either. But do you see the way he walks? It's kind of like—he's conscious about it. Like he's deliberately trying to move with as much swagger as possible. It's kind of disconcerting. Though amusing. I've been watching him for days,"

"He's short," Sasuke pointed out, "Probably just afraid of being called a pansy. My guess is he deliberately moves that way, to try to increase his masculinity or something,"

"And he smells like a girl," Itachi wrinkled his nose, "Much too clean,"

"Unlike you I don't go around smelling Privates," Sasuke remarked, "I don't know about that but I wouldn't want to smell like a pigsty, either,"

* * *

"Uhm. Are you sick, Akira?" Naruto asked as Sakura stomped in their tent with an unmistakably wild, panicky look in her eyes.

"Yeah. I mean, no, I—_shit _the food here is awesome!" Sakura exclaimed, shoving a spoonful of the goopy, brown stew in her mouth.

"The food must be awful over in Waterfall," Kiba whispered none too quietly in Naruto's ear. The blond sniggered loudly.

"Anyway," Shikamaru dug under what looked like a pile of envelopes and tossed one at her, "A letter. From home,"

Wide-eyed, Sakura stared at the address. It was addressed simply to _Haruno. _

Inside, was a brief letter in her mother's handwriting.

**_Come home. _**

Sakura sighed. _She knows I can't._

"Hey, hey, Akira's got a _girl _back home," Naruto grinned, abandoning his deck of cards as he leaned towards her with a leering expression.

Kiba whistled, "Good for ya. Left a lot of broken hearts back home, Haruno?"

"In a way," Sakura laughed lightly, then paused.

"Anything wrong?" Shikamaru asked, noting her glazed over expression.

_A lie. Think of a lie. _But she'd just come back from a particularly stressful conversation with Uchiha Sasuke and she has been lying about everything for two days straight. She could feel her carefully built facade wavering, and thought, to hell it all, it'd be breath of fresh air to tell the truth for once.

"It's my mother," She shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, "She wants me to come home. That's all."

"Why? I mean, I know she's worried," Naruto backtracked, slightly alarmed by Sakura's pitiful expression, "But it's an honour, you know. Us being here. It's something to be proud of. And she must know how amazing you are at fighting, Akira. You'll be okay."

"Maybe I'm not supposed to be here, that's all," Sakura sighed, sitting down and tracing the words her mother wrote down with suspiciously slim fingers. Right, come to think of it, it's a wondrous thing nobody noticed her slim hands.

"Nonsense. You belong here," Kiba snorted, and Naruto nodded sincerely.

She looked down at the letter and thought of what she should say. She'd have to write in codes, though. Address it to a worried aunt instead of a mother.

And that's what she did, at 10 PM in the evening, as she sat down with a pen poised over a clean piece of paper.

**_Aunty,_**

**_You know I can't. _**

**_I know you're worried, but I'm doing fine._**

**_I've got friends. Namikaze Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Inuzuka Kiba._**

**_Send Uncle my greetings. Tell him I love him very, very, much. _**

She grinned at the image of her father bawling uncontrollably at that.

**_And while you're at it, tell cousin Sakura hello. And also, please tell her friends I'll be saving a big smile for them when I return._**

She thought of Ino and Hinata.

**_I'll be back. _**

**_Love,_**

**_Akira_**

**.**

**TBC**


	3. 03

A/N: why do i write so fast? i don't. really. this chapter was half finished already (i just tweaked it a bit)

and thank you to the guests who told me what a multi-saku is. haahaha. im so bad at fanfic lingo. and no, this isn't a multi-saku. she'll be paired with sasuke. eventually. i still dont know how on earth im going to do that. thank you for reading!

* * *

list of their ranks because im too lazy to explain in the actual story ugh

**Ranks: **

**PRIVATE** (new recruits for the war with no military background are automatically Privates)

Sakura (new recruit; Haruno clan isn't affiliated with the military)

Shikamaru (new recruit; Nara clan is affiliated with military but he was too lazy to work his way up a few ranks; was too lazy in military school and dropped out eventually)

Naruto (new recruit; Minato is part of the military but the clan itself is not affiliated; Naruto was too busy playing around and didn't like the idea of going to military school)

Kiba (new recruit; family not affiliated with the military; takes veterinary courses)

**SERGEANT**

Choji (Akimichi clan is affiliated with the military; was forced to go to military school)

Shino (clan is not affiliated with the military; went to military school for personal reasons)

**SECOND LIEUTENANT**

Lee (commoner; went to military school for personal reasons)

**FIRST LIEUTENANT **

Sasuke (Uchiha clan practically runs the military; he's Sasuke what do you expect)

Neji (Hyuga clan partly controls the military; he's Neji what do you expect)

**MAJOR**

Itachi (it's rumoured he actually has a different role in the military and has a higher rank but for everyone else, he's a Major; he's Itachi what do you expect)

* * *

**03 sand rats**

* * *

The first raid happened two weeks after all the Privates have settled in camp. It was on the night of a particularly sore day of training, at around eleven-fifty six. The whole camp was put on alert, and the situation was dire enough that even the rookies had to be dispatched to the chase. So at twelve in the morning, with sore backs and aching muscles, they were all running through the forest holding guns, hearts thumping madly, adrenaline and fear dulling the fatigue.

It rained heavily too, just to make things worse.

"Akira!"

"Kiba's got my gun!" Sakura yelled back over the din of the storm. She'd tossed her pistol to Kiba after she'd saved his neck from the Sand rats near the forest border. He had lost his weapon and she couldn't bring herself to leave it at that. She had two small knives tucked in her boots. The larger one, a serrated combat knife, was grasped firmly in one hand.

"Stand, hands up," Shikamaru growled at the soldier that lay sprawled on the ground.

The soldier in the Sand military issue uniform stood up slowly, hands raised to ear level. Sakura's quick, calculating eyes took in everything she could about the soldier. The uniform he donned was different from the ones the Sand patrollers wore.

_This guy's a higher ranking soldier, _Sakura thought.

He was shorter than Shikamaru and taller than Sakura. He wasn't very tall, but he was obviously strongly built. He had dirty brown hair, cut short to his scalp, and a broad, square shaped jaw.

A strong hand pushed Sakura's head down and she felt her body slam against the ground just as a gun fired from the side. Sakura turned sharply to the source of the gunshot and saw a pale boy with brick red hair. He was flanked by five other soldiers.

"Bad, bad, bad," Sakura mumbled under her breath, looking desperately around for some kind of cover.

"Doomed," Shikamaru sighed, more out of exasperation than fear, really.

Almost on cue, a gun from somewhere on Sakura's side fired and the soldiers scattered.

"The hero of the Hidden Leaf, here to save the day!"

"Ah, that idiot, he could have hidden his presence," Shikamaru shook his head, though a characteristic smirk made its way to his face.

Sakura pulled herself and, with one hand, Shikamaru, back on their feet and tackled the soldier they were attempting to hold hostage before. Not surprisingly, he was stronger than anyone she'd encountered but he was without a weapon and something about a knife to one's throat makes a person much more obedient. Within seconds, with Shikamaru's help, the Sand soldier lay on the ground, his hands behind his back. She pressed the knife firmly on his neck, careful to avoid the jugular vein. They needed to bring this one back to camp.

"Bloody brilliant work, Haruno, Nara," A Specialist that came with Naruto grinned.

Then a very dense cloud covered them all of a sudden, getting into Sakura's eyes and nose.

There was a brief scuffle around her. Her prisoner was clearly struggling to escape, but stopped when Sakura pressed the knife to his neck, drawing blood.

"Stop—" She coughed violently, dust seeping into her nose. Her eyes watered, "—stop resisting! I'll kill you, I really will!"

"Sir Kankuro!"

The prisoner suddenly twisted and before she could react delivered a punch to her face that she wasn't able to avoid and sent her sprawling to the ground. She immediately got to her feet with arms raised to block impending blows, but the prisoner seemed to have taken off. When the strange cloud cleared, the Sand soldiers were gone, Naruto looked extremely pissed and was kicking a rock, and Shikamaru looked the same, although his normally neat hair was in disarray and he looked more alert than usual.

"Sand bomb," Shikamaru said when she limped over to him. He eyed her foot, "You alright?"

"Twisted, but nothing that can't be fixed," She sat on a rock, pulled her right foot over her left knee and jerked it in one direction with her hands. A sickening crack, like something being put back into place, and a small hiss of pain from Sakura, made Shikamaru's face twist in disgust.

"It's a shame we didn't get the hostage," The Nara genius drawled, "Would've earned us points back at camp,"

Sakura nodded, looking at Naruto who was still kicking a rock. A bunch of other soldiers he had brought with him looked disheartened, too.

"Kankuro, Kankuro—"

Shikamaru eyed her, "What?"

"Ever heard of the name Kankuro?" Sakura asked, bunching a piece of cloth and pressing it against her bleeding mouth, "It's familiar,"

"Never heard of him," Shikamaru grumbled, "And your mouth is bleeding. Quite heavily,"

"It'll be okay," Sakura winced as she pressed the cloth even firmer, "That soldier we almost got, his name is Kankuro. I've read about him. I'm sure about it. That means he's some sort of big-shot in the Sand,"

"Imagine if we actually got him!" Naruto groaned, falling dramatically to his knees.

"Get up, idiot," Shikamaru sighed, and with the help of other Privates, pulled him to his feet.

The rain was finally letting up, and the moon was starting to peek through the thick clouds, heavy with rainfall. They were standing at the edge of the forest, right near the borders that separate the Leaf's vast territory from Waterfall and Grass. Sakura knelt down to inspect the ground, squinting. A Private handed her a lamp and she smiled gratefully. She held it up.

"What'cha looking for, Akira?" Naruto asked, hovering above her.

"Footprints. Lots of them," Sakura gestured to the freshly turned earth in front of them, "They're overlapping on top of each other so it's difficult at first glance to recognize them, but if you look closely—these really are footprints. Of a large band of soldiers. I bet this is where our Sand friends came through,"

"From here?" Naruto raised a brow, "What are they doing way out here?"

"They came from Sound village," Shikamaru remarked. Naruto turned to him, "What? How would you know?"

"It's obvious," The Nara shrugged lazily.

"Transparent," Sakura agreed with a nod,

Naruto looked back and forth between them, completely lost and annoyed. "Why don't you guys stop being smartasses and tell me exactly what's going on?"

Sakura ignored him, "But they're on our side, aren't they?"

"Officially," Shikamaru nodded, "It's on the papers. But what would a few written vows on paper mean if they aren't really into it?"

"Who was in charge of the peace treaty between Sound and Leaf again?" Sakura asked. Her knowledge on the going ins of the village was limited.

"Orochimaru," Shikamaru replied.

"That makes things more obvious," Sakura frowned.

"What? What's obvious?" Naruto exclaimed, looking furiously at his two friends.

Again, he was ignored.

"Why would the Land of Wind, then, send a hundred band army to Sound, if not to attack them?" Sakura frowned, her eyebrows creasing together, "But if they were attacked, why didn't the Leaf receive a call for reinforcements? No, they weren't attacked,"

"They weren't," Shikamaru nodded, "It was a nice little state visit,"

"And Orochimaru was in charge of the peace treaty. And he was the one the Leaf sent as an ambassador to Sound almost every year,"

"That's right,"

Sakura looked troubled, "That doesn't sound too good, does it?"

"Definitely not," Shikamaru agreed.

Naruto was ready to bash their heads in, "Hey! If you assholes would kindly tell me what the he—"

"Kiba!" Sakura exclaimed as the Inuzuka burst through the thick foliage behind them. "Anything wrong?"

"Lost contact with Shino's team," He said, frowning at the transmitter in his hand, "They ran after the Sand guys that were heading to the Land of Rivers. Dunno what the hell they're going there for but—"

"There's a cave there that runs under a mountain and opens up to the other side of the border, right near the Land of Wind. A few miles and you'll be in the deserts. That's probably why the hundred band passed through the Land of Fire without alerting the patrollers," Sakura said quickly.

They all stared at her in awe.

"But if their objective really is the Sound, why'd they bother to stir up trouble in the camp?" A random Private that came with Naruto before asked.

"Because they didn't want the Leaf to suspect. They probably went to the Sound, unnoticed, and when they got back, they were spotted by a patroller from the Leaf. And of course, seeing a big band of soldiers skulking about the borders is bound to rouse suspicious, and they knew that, and everyone knows Grass and Waterfall are long time affiliates of the Leaf, and they're part of the Land of Fire. So what else lies in that direction? Sound, of course; a secretive little village with shaky ties to the Leaf. Their loyalties are questionable. So the Sand soldiers decided to stir up trouble in camp to make it look like they were crawling around the borders to assault us in the middle of the night, when they were, in fact, using the darkness as a cover to make their way back to Sand from Sound unnoticed," Shikamaru said all this with the same bored, languid expression never leaving his face.

"You guys are bloody brilliant," Kiba said, looking like it took a lot of pride to swallow for him to say that, "Haruno, why didn't you stay and go to military school?"

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," Naruto squinted at her, "Instead you went to Waterfall to become some bumpkin country boy,"

"And Shikamaru, the other smartass, did go to military school but dropped out after like a year," Kiba remarked, frowning at Shikamaru's direction. "You guys are weird,"

"_Anyway," _Sakura interrupted before the conversation took a turn for the worse, "We better go to that cave I mentioned. I bet that's where we'll find the other team!"

They rushed directly to the direction of the Land of Rivers. Kiba held the map, consulted Shikamaru, and pointed them in the right direction. Eventually they came upon the foot of a mountain. The mouth of the cave was wide and jagged, and was partly submerged in a shallow, little lake. The cave itself was dry though, because the ground was slightly elevated. Shino Aburame's team stood in front of the cave, weapons raised.

One of the Privates with them spotted Kiba's group, and couldn't help looking disappointed, "They only sent six Privates as reinforcements? Damn,"

"We're not reinforcements," Shikamaru informed them, "Kiba told us you were communicating anymore and we—sort of deduced—that you were here. What's the problem?"

Shino Aburame, the Sergeant in charge of the team, stepped forward. He was a tall guy wearing dark shades (even in the dead of the night) and spoke in a calm, steady voice, "The Sand soldiers passed through here. We rushed after them but they waited inside, and for some reason, knew exactly where each of us were even in the dark. We were forced to go back. But when we got out, we realized Sir Uchiha wasn't with us anymore,"

Naruto looked shocked, and furious. "And you left him?!"

"We have already lost four Privates," Shino said. He gestured behind him. Four bodies lay side by side at the edge of the lake. "We had to drag them out. Three got stabbed at the chest, one got his throat slashed. We called for reinforcements just now,"

"We have to go in and look for that sour faced Uchiha!" Naruto said, balling his fists.

"I can't risk all of us for one guy,"

"What did you say?" Naruto stepped forward, as if to challenge him, but Kiba held him in check.

"Stop, Naruto," Sakura said, thought she felt sick to the stomach herself.

"Screw it! I can't wait for the reinforcements!" Naruto broke away from Kiba's grip and rushed inside the dark, forbidding cave. He was swallowed up by darkness and shadows in seconds and it seemed like not even their yells could reach him. Shikamaru groaned and clutched his head with his hands, looking worn out and tired. Kiba looked like was about dash in after Naruto at any second but the darkness and possibility of dozens of Sand assassins lying wait in the dark stilled his legs.

"And he's got the lamp with him!" Kiba exclaimed.

Sakura thought of Naruto, of his sunny blond hair and bright blue eyes, and the way he whined like a kid and the way he easily trusted people even though they were stuck in an impending war. She couldn't help it, she ran in, too, yelling an apology at the slack-jawed people she left behind.

The cave was dark, without even a trickle of light to form a shadow, and the ground was uneven. She stumbled a few times as she ran. She wanted to call out to Naruto but the possibility of hidden assassins made her sweat profusely. It felt like an eternity before she finally saw the faint light from the dying light of the lantern.

"Naruto!" She finally called out, her heart thudding violently in her chest.

"Akira!" He was there, sitting safe and well, but she could see, even in the dim light, his pale face.

She was about to ask why he looked so pale, but then she saw why. He was crouching beside a body decked in dark military clothes; dark hair and ivory skin that seemed to glow in the dark.

Sakura rushed to her superior's side, inspecting his pulse.

_He's okay. Though possibly not for long_

Tearing out the scarf tied to her neck, she pressed it to his side to stop the blood. The Uchiha's face was pale, even more so than usual. In comparison to this, his usual icy face seemed warm and welcoming. Much to her chagrin, Sakura decided she preferred him alive, well, and sneering at potential marriage candidates. With her six years experience working in the Leaf's medical facilities, Sakura realized she didn't like looking at dying people, no matter how loathsome or selfish or cruel they were.

On her third year as a medical volunteer, an old childhood enemy was admitted in. She was suffering from some malignant cold, probably something more serious than that, and Sakura had stayed vigilantly by her side. Ami, the bully, recovered after nearly a month. She'd asked Sakura if she could forgive her and if they could be friends. Sakura had refused, obviously. She'd sniffed disdainfully, gathered her medical supplies and strode swiftly out of the room without a glance back.

Three years later, she found herself pressing a blood soaked scarf against the gunshot wound of a person who'd been horrible to her.

She turned to see Naruto, unexpectedly, clenching and unclenching his trembling hands, "Will he be fine Akira? Akira?"

It bothered her to see him, an annoying ball of high-strung energy, looking so unsure and nervous and afraid. She put on her best, calming expression, hoping the dim light hid the sudden pallor she was sure was visible on her face. "We need to carry him out of here!"

"Bloody hell, you two!" They both turned to see Kiba, Shikamaru the other Privates and what looked like the reinforcements materializing from the shadows. Sakura almost fainted in relief. Kiba was red-faced, and furious, "See?! The reinforcements arrived just seconds after you two ran in like a pair of idiots! What if there were sa—_Kami!"_

Kiba stopped in his tracks.

Shikamaru was pale faced, "Carry him! Quick! Let's do this quick!"

* * *

"Anticoagulant. They coated their blades and bullets with it," A stern looking medic said, frowning at Uchiha Sasuke's wound.

"With poison, too," Sakura added. She'd seen very few poison wounds but she saw enough to recognize one. And she barely did, too. The poison wounds she saw in the Leaf were caused by plant based poisons (usually the Wolfsbane, from the Yamanaka boys fooling around with it) but judging from the looks of the Uchiha's wounds, the Sand used metal based ones.

The medic look pained as he fought to get words out through gritted teeth. It must've stung much of his pride to do so, "It's a different poison. I doubt our antidotes will do much,"

Sakura gave him an incredulous stare, "Surely you could make one—?"

"Look, _boy,_" The way he said it seemed like an intentional jab at Sakura's height and small build, "You're a privileged little clan member who knows less about medicine than I do about holding a gun. You did well bringing Sir Uchiha here, but let's leave each other to do our respective jobs, shall we?"

A vein ticked on Sakura's forehead.

"You can't make one, can you?" She announced, feeling bolder now that she was in her element. If there was something she was sure about, it was her medic skills. She pointed a figure at Sasuke's wound, "This was caused by a metal based poison, a type of poison utterly unfamiliar to the Hidden Leaf. You don't have an antidote for this, do you?"

"O-Of course not!" The medic spluttered, looking utterly dismayed, "It's to be expected! We brought along antidotes for metal poisons but this is different! Nothing we've ever seen before! But we'll get to the bottom of this," Then in a sudden surge of inspiration, he regained his footing, "I suggest, soldier boy, that you refrain from underestimating the Leaf's medic team. We weren't assigned to attend to this camp if they thought that—hey—hey! What are you doing?—hey—!"

Sakura was already flinging her cap to the side and fitting up a pair of disposable gloves, ignoring the shocked medics around her. Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba looked equally shocked as they watched her shove the stern medic out of the way so she could properly examine the wound. At this point, she couldn't care less. She'd been holding back before, scared of what everyone would think. Medicine is a field often picked up by women, and even back in the Leaf, the white-clad people in hospitals were composed mostly of women. Here in camp, all ten medics were men, only because woman normally aren't sent to war.

Sakura prided herself for her reading skills, something that came in handy when she started training for the field. One time as a younger girl, she snuck inside the Hokage's private library (because despite her violent tendencies, the Hokage was a brilliant doctor) and spent a whole afternoon reading medical texts that were otherwise forbidden to a medic student of her age. She was so engrossed in one particularly thick book about the Land of Wind's most potent poisons that she didn't hear the door open and the Hokage walk in.

Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, was amused rather than pissed and after talking a bit with her (Sakura was shaking the entire time) she decided to take her in as an apprentice. Though only after she told her off for sneaking inside restricted areas and touching stuff belonging to the most powerful woman in the country.

Four chapters of that thick medical text was dedicated to a poison called Red Sand. Sakura could still envision the small prints floating inside her eyelids when she closed them.

_..a potent poison infused with heavy metals—_

_..work of an ingenious weapons maker born to a wealthy family of puppeteers—_

_..mechanism of action involves destruction of the muscles and slow deterioration of cells—_

_..travels via the bloodstream—_

_..blackening around infected area with possible edema—_

She straightened up and turned to face the stern medic who seemed to grow paler and paler as the Uchiha's face got more contorted with pain.

"Take me to the medicine greenhouse," Sakura demanded, fetching three sterile vials from a drawer.

Shikamaru, Naruto and Kiba watched, amazed, as the medics all led Sakura out of the tent.

* * *

Sakura stared stonily ahead, not in the mood for false niceties. She'd saved his ass. Surely he couldn't report her for showing rudeness just this once. As a normal human being, he just couldn't. He seemed to know this too, and shifted his gaze towards the pallid, gray sky.

From the corner of her eye, she observed him. _No jerky movements, eyes not twitching, skin colour back to normal—_

It was a habit of hers to keenly observe previous patients even after they've healed up.

It has been a week since they found him sprawled on the ground of the cave near the Land of Wind's border. Sasuke was a tall, lean, boy of nineteen who radiated strength and confidence, though he had a sickening personality to go with it. It was strange, seeing him lying so helpless in the dark, almost as strange as seeing the sunny, happy Naruto crouching beside his body, pale as a sheet. The war hasn't even begun yet, and there were already images in her head that she couldn't possibly forget.

Sasuke stopped a few paces from her, and turned his gaze to the direction she was staring at. The silence stretched on for a while, until she felt like breaking it herself.

"You might want to inquire back in the Leaf about the Sound village," She said, still staring ahead. "We think—Nara, Namikaze, and I—that they're going to side with the Land of Wind,"

"I know," He said shortly, "Namikaze barged into the medic's tent when I was finally allowed to receive visitors. And we've been suspecting Sound's loyalties for a while now,"

A bout silence, then—

"You made the antidote,"

"Yes,"

_Is he going to say thank you? _She thought. She suddenly felt uncomfortable.

But he didn't. Instead, he handed her an envelope. It was plain white, made of a special stationary, with the Uchiha crest stamped on the back.

"For your cousin," He said, still not looking at her, "My mother owns hundreds of those. I asked her to send me some last week,"

She was in awe. Could he mean—"My cousin? You mean—"

"The Lady Sakura," He confirmed, flicking some microscopic leaf off of his dark uniform.

"Sir—"

"Uchiha," A voice suddenly said. They both turned, and to Sakura's horror, Hyuga Neji was standing a few meters away from them by the Captain's tent, looking intimidating in his dark, military garb. His long brown hair was tied back, his face smooth and his expression controlled. Sakura quickly turned back and started determinedly at her mud-caked boots. Sasuke left her side and walked towards the Hyuga. They both went off to the direction of the Espionage Specialists' tent.

Sakura rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. Hyuga Neji. The one boy who'd seen her frequently without makeup and up close was _in_ the camp and she felt like her insides were being churned violently.

Suddenly remembering the envelope Sasuke gave her, she rushed to their tent and smiled with relief when she found it empty. She huddled at a corner and stared at it like a kid with a new doll. _Should I open it? I mean, it's for me, isn't it. _Giving in to curiosity, she carefully pried open the envelope so she could reseal it and send it to the Leaf later.

Inside the envelope were five little gift cards, each worth a 4000 Ryo kimono from a popular couturier in the Leaf. Almost all of Hinata's kimonos were made there. The fortunate ladies of the Hyuga and Uchiha frequented that shop, and Sakura could only look longingly at the shop windows whenever she passed it. Even Ino herself had only six kimonos made there, and she only took them out for extra special occasions.

Sakura turned each card around in her hands. She couldn't believe they were real! And why did he have his mother send it to him instead of just having her give the cards to _Sakura _back in the Leaf personally? Did he want to give it to her himself?

_Of course he doesn't know you're Sakura. Don't be so flattered_

But she couldn't help feeling happy about it. She sat at the corner of the tent for almost half an hour, and when they were finally dismissed for the day, she laid down on her sleeping bag, wide awake, clutching the envelope with the cards, as if they were going to dissolve into dust the moment she lets go.

**.**

**TBC**


	4. extra 01

A/N: still working on chapter 4. just decided to post this extra chap since it was finished anyway. thanks for the reviews! i liked reading them!

* * *

**extra: ink man**

* * *

"Look at him, Hinata! I think he's even cuter than Sasuke!"

The blonde girl had been following him around for a while now. She was dragging along her dark-haired friend. He chanced a look at them when they were too busy pretending to examine a freestanding sculpture of the former Hyuga clan head. The blond was taller, slimmer and wore a dark blue kimono. Her friend had a curvier figure and wore a lavish, dark green kimono with the Hyuga seal at the back.

"Do you know him, Hinata? Do you?"

The dark-haired girl looked slightly mortified, "Please keep your voice down, Ino,"

He turned away and went to another room, on the pretence of re-filling his wine glass to see if they were going to follow. Sure enough, within seconds, the blonde girl appeared in the room, still dragging her friend with her. He frowned. Usually, when someone is trailing him, it is followed by an assassination attempt. Were those two assassins? Not likely. They seemed too loud—the blonde, especially—to be assassins. How peculiar. What were they following him for, then?

"Definitely, _definitely, _cuter than Sasuke!"

"Ssshh! Ino, please,"

Ah, they were talking about him. Cuter than who? Sasuke? Wait, he knew that name. Uchiha Sasuke, son of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, second son and youngest child, First Lieutenant in the Leaf Military, currently positioned in the military camp near Grass—according to Lord Danzou's files. So, he was _cuter? _He wondered what that meant. He usually hears the word 'cute' from people complimenting pets—cats, dogs, birds, little fishes. Last he checked, neither he nor the Uchiha had anything remotely resembling animal fur, feathers or scales growing on their skin. How strange, to be referred to as _cute._

_"_We have to tell Sakura about him. _Kami, _look at that face,"

"Ino, _please,"_

His face? What was wrong with his face? He touched his cheek consciously.

"Sai,"

He turned and gave a half bow, "Lord Danzou,"

"Let's go, we're done here,"

* * *

How nice! There seemed to plenty of interesting people around. There's the Fourth's loud mouthed son talking with his mouth full again. He was surrounded by five other privates, he recognized two of them—a brown-haired boy who seemed like an Inuzuka judging from his smell, and the Nara heir who had that same blank expression he always wore. But wait, there was another familiar face.

But was that a soldier? Isn't that just a girl with a bad haircut playing dress-up in oversized military clothes? How peculiar! A girl in the military! Where did he see her again?—ah, yes, she is that blonde's friend, the one who fainted in the park square ten days ago. He'd recognize her anywhere. He was, after all, the one who carried her back to her house. She weighted a ton, too. But her blonde friend looked so miserable and troubled that he felt inclined to offer his help. He reads a lot of books—at Lord Danzou's request—and was fairly sure it was the right thing to do.

It was strange, too. One moment, the blonde looked so sad and miserable, and then he had sidled up to them and did what he always did—

"Hello Beautiful, may I help?"—and all of a sudden, colour rushed back into her pale face and she barely got out a nod. That must have been gratitude! He always liked learning something new.

He observed the impostor again. It seemed that nobody else knew she was a girl. How peculiar. Is everyone else blind? The Fourth's son himself didn't seem to have a clue.

Should he tell Lord Danzou? But would Lord Danzou care if a girl were in the military? Perhaps not.

Okay, he won't tell.

* * *

He was starting to wonder if maybe Uchiha Sasuke knows about the soldier impostor after all. He was always watching the impostor soldier, _always, _and he stared so shamelessly, too. He ought to be embarrassed at himself.

Ah, there he is again. Staring like he wants to burn holes on the impostor's back. Isn't staring too much a ground for harassment? Maybe he should tell the Uchiha about this. Or would it be considered 'unwanted advice'? Maybe he'd better not.

If he wants to ask the soldier impostor something, then he should just go up to her and talk. Normal people are so strange.

* * *

He wondered why Lord Danzou would assign him such a boring mission. It's been a month and the only remotely interesting thing that has happened was a night raid from the Sand, and even _that _wasn't done wholeheartedly. Ten casualties only, including Uchiha Sasuke who was inflicted by a severe poison wound. He had lost plenty of blood because of the anticoagulant that the bullet was also coated with. It was an interesting idea, to use anticoagulant. He wondered why the Leaf hasn't thought of such a promising tactic yet.

Uchiha Sasuke suffered chills, high fever, hallucinations and muscle weakness, and though the medics (and the impostor soldier, who created the antidote) managed to stabilized his blood pressure within a few hours, it took a week for him to be able to finally walk around and attend meetings once again. And even then, he was quite pale-faced as he sat in his usual place in the Espionage Specialists' tent, where the meetings were held. He looked sickly and clammy too, and frequently wiped off the perspiration from his brow.

After they discussed the issue between the possible connivance of Sand and Sound, a Sergant went up to Uchiha Sasuke, clutching several files in his hands, "Sir, I was told by Major Sarutobi to report to you regarding the rookies?"

"Yes, is anything amiss?"

"It's about Haruno, Sir, it says in his file that he is from Waterfall, and we've sent requests for his legal documents to Waterfall and they've been ignoring us, Sir. We finally got a response just this morning and they claim they can't find legal documents pertaining to a Haruno Akira, Sir,"

Sai loitered in the tent, pretending to write details on the report he was to send Lord Danzou, to listen to the rest of the conversation. Finally! Something interesting.

The Sergeant went on, "I was thinking of sending a request over at the Leaf, instead, Sir. Private Haruno did not indicate whether he was born in the Leaf and just moved to Waterfall later. Maybe his documents are in the Leaf,"

"I'll do it myself," Uchiha Sasuke replied.

The Sergeant looked bewildered, "Sir...?"

"I'll do it myself," He repeated, fighting back a grimace as he stood up from his chair. "I'll check up on his documents myself. You don't need to concern yourself with the matter anymore,"

The Sergeant was startled. His superior offering to do his job for him? "But Sir, you don't need to trouble yourself—"

"I'll do it myself," The Uchiha said again, eyes glinting coldly. This time, the Sergeant swallowed up his reply, gave a quick salute and scuttled off. Uchiha Sasuke then turned to meet Sai's eyes. He raised a brow at this pale-faced eavesdropper. Sai, meanwhile, did his usual tactic and smiled at him. He raised his folder, "Fixing my reports for Lord Danzou, Sir,"

He seemed to have found something interesting and new between this Uchiha and the impostor soldier. He was starting to think that perhaps this may not be such a dull place to be in, after all.

**.**


	5. 04

**04 boy in a skirt**

* * *

The first two months in the camp were tense, as everyone waited for the outcome of all the negotiations and peace treaties. War? Or peace? The Privates spent most of their time training along with the Specialists and the Sergeants. The higher ranking officers were already formulating plans and strategies in case their attempts at peace failed. Ever since Hyuga Neji arrived at the camp, the officers were either cooped up inside the Espionage Specialists' tent or trekking around the Land of Fire. Inquiries to their activities were often ignored. The Privates were kept in the dark.

The Sand did not stir up trouble again. After all the high-tension during their last assault, the lack of action made everyone feel lax and bored and they were loosening up. It was then that Naruto organized a little night out to a nearby village, Sayuri. It wasn't really a village. More like a hodgepodge of pubs, brothels, gambling joints, and motels with dingy little rooms. It was frequented by travelers and merchants, and before the tension between the Lands, it wouldn't have been rare to see a travelling man from the Land of Wind there either.

"Check out that sleazy snake," Naruto hissed, staring at the good-looking man sitting a few tables away from them. His gray hair was slicked back—actually, was that gel on his hair?—and had dark brown eyes set on a tanned face.

"That's Hidan," Kiba remarked, "The big-shot from Waterfall rumoured to be affiliated with the Hidden Mist,"

"Whaaaat!" Naruto exclaimed, and it took both Shikamaru's and Sakura's efforts to get him to lower his voice, "Then—then—why is he here slithering around in a pub?! He should be in lockdown! Old granny Hokage should have put him in jail or under surveillance or whatever!"

"There's no evidence against him so it's impossible," Sakura pointed out.

"That's right," Shikamaru shrugged, "He looks harmless, anyhow,"

"Harmless?!" Naruto spluttered, "Look at him, Shikamaru! Those girls are in captivity! Can't you see the vague signals of help they're throwing our way?!"

Sakura looked back at the man, and saw that he had both arms around two attractive looking women, whose faces were filled to the brim with makeup. They were giggling and pressing themselves against him, looking anything _but _unwilling. And Hidan didn't even seem to be doing anything to force them. He was just sitting there, laughing, with the girls doting on him. In fact, they seemed to look like they were having more fun than he was.

"Um," Sakura frowned, eyes narrowed, "I seriously doubt it,"

Kiba snorted, "Open your eyes, Namikaze. Those women are throwing themselves all over him,"

"Women love guys like him," Shikamaru supplied lazily, "Those easygoing, attractive types. Trust me,"

Sakura felt like contradicting, cause she would _never _do anything like cuddle up to a suspicious snake like that Hidan.

"Not all women," Sakura felt the need to retort defensively.

"Right, as if _you _would know anything about women, Akira" Naruto snorted.

Sakura's lips tugged up. She couldn't help it. She'd roll on the floor laughing if she could.

"Oh, he would, wouldn't you, Haruno?" Shikamaru said with an uncharacteristically sly smile.

Sakura's fingers numbed over all of a sudden. "Uhm. Huh?" was her brilliant reply.

"Please," Naruto rolled his eyes before taking a quick swig of sake, "Him? With his pretty boy face? Not a chance!"

"You call Uchiha pretty boy, too, and check out the girls lining up for him back home," Kiba pointed out, going a bit red in the cheeks. Surprisingly, his alcohol tolerance wasn't as good as the other two's.

"Sasuke's a different kind of pretty boy!" Naruto retorted, then looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful frown on his face, "I meant something else! Like when I say 'pretty boy' to Sasuke, I'm referring to his good looks. But when I say 'pretty boy' to Akira, it's literally like—uh, how do I say this—it literally means _pretty_, y'know. Like he's literally a pretty guy! I mean, just a few tweaks here and there and Akira would look like a real pretty gir—"

"Kiba! Aren't you drinking too much?!" Sakura exclaimed, snatching the sake bottle from Kiba. "Man oh man, look at him, he's as red as a tomato. This is bad, he might throw up or something. Bad, bad, bad—"

"Ahh Kiba! You look horrible!" Naruto frowned, slapping the Inuzuka boy lightly.

_Ah, thank goodness, _Sakura wiped a thin sheet of sweat on her forehead. Boy, that conversation was definitely heading to a direction she wasn't hoping for.

"I don't care what you think of Akira's face, Naruto," Shikamaru said, "But I can tell you, this guy would know a lot about women,"

"I refuse to believe it," Naruto said flatly. "Look at him! He doesn't even drink!

"Then, have a look at this," Shikamaru fished out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Naruto.

Sakura stared at it in horror. A billion of images rushed into her head. What was it?! A picture of her from the matchmaking ceremony? Her legal documents presenting her biological gender? A picture of her without makeup wearing a female's kimono? or a careless message from her mother that inexplicably landed in Shikamaru's hands?! A stupid message from stupid Ino?!

In fact, it _was _a message from Ino.

It was addressed to Shikamaru and stated very clearly that he was to protect Haruno Akira from everyone: Sand soldiers, anyone in camp who might think of bullying him, from Uchiha Sasuke (Shikamaru wondered why Ino included him), etc cetera, et cetera. From the eyes of someone who had no idea of who Haruno Akira really was, it definitely, with no doubt, seemed like a letter from an overly concerned girlfriend who was losing her hair over worrying for a dashing, brave boyfriend that got sent to a bloody border crawling with enemy soldiers.

"Mind telling me what your relationship with Ino is?" Shikamaru asked, looking very amused. A very rare sight indeed.

"Uhh," came Sakura's dumbfounded reply. Inwardly, she was relieved. The letter only seemed to 'prove' that Haruno Akira had serious romantic relations with women, thus, upping his masculinity by 60% at least. _Nice, Ino-pig. _

_"_Ohh, Ino, huh," Sakura said. _Sexy Casanova heartbreaker mode: ON_

She raked her hair over her head in what she hoped screamed **_STUD_** in bold, capital letters. "Well, nothing much. We've had...a few encounters, that's all I can say. She's pretty sweet, though, that Ino. I got to remember to bring back a few gifts for her or she'll get pissed again," _Smooth, Haruno._

"I can't believe you're dating Yamanaka Ino!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Dating? Oh no, no," Sakura scoffed. "I don't _date, _Naruto. It's more of a no strings attached thing, really. Has all the benefits of a real relationship but minus the commitments,"

Cliche. Not to mention lame. But Naruto looked like he'd eat that crap up, though she wasn't sure she could convince Shikamaru. She was right, though. Naruto had a shining twinkle of admiration in his bright blue eyes while Shikamaru looked bored. Well. The whole Casanova act was for Naruto, anyway.

"Whoah, I can't believe it," Naruto breathed out, in awe, "Yamanaka Ino,"

_Does this guy have a crush on Ino or something, _Sakura smiled tenderly at him. She didn't want to ruin his crush for him like this.

"Not that I like her!" Naruto said hastily, as if reading through her expression, "I'm just saying that she's really pretty. Y'know, an unattainable type. I thought she'd go out with someone a bit more...Sasuke-like,"

_She would. She definitely would. But Sasuke's a different story, _Sakura thought, recalling the many times her blond bestfriend fantasized about going on a date with the Uchiha on top of the Hokage monuments 'underneath a starry sky on Christmas Eve'—were her exact words. But no matter how much Ino prettied herself up in one of those upper clan parties (that Sakura wasn't invited to) Sasuke never spared her a glance. If he did, it was one of indifference, or worse, a glare.

"What type _do _you like, though?" Kiba piped up drowsily, apparently having sobered up a bit.

"Dunno, never thought about it," Naruto shrugged. He did seem like the type of guy who cared more about training and other non-romance related stuff. Normally, guys didn't like romance. Just the skirt-chasing casual bit. But Naruto didn't seem interested in that, too.

"Although," Naruto continued, looking thoughtful and a bit goofy, "I do have a crush on someone,"

He threw Akira a slightly-scared, slightly-sly glance. Sakura raised a brow, "What?"

"Ah, yes, you did mention that once," Shikamaru nodded. He turned to Sakura, "He means your cousin, Haruno. That girl from Sasuke's matchmaking party,"

Sakura snorted out sake from her nose in a most unrefined fashion.

Naruto was always filled to the brim with dangerous and idiotic ideas. He was particularly insistent on his latest grand scheme, and bugged the other three endlessly. Even when they left the bar, got to camp, and ducked into their tents, Naruto was still whining and insisting and making a great deal of noise in general.

"Don't give me that crap," Kiba shook his head. "I'm not getting myself into trouble over that, Naruto,"

"C'mooon! Nobody's gonna do anything about him! Are we just gonna let that snake slither around?! We've got him right under our noses! In a week or day's time he might be off prancing around in another part of the world!—"

"Good riddance, then," Shikamaru snorted.

"—so now we've gotta do something while he's still here!" Naruto went on, ignoring Shikamaru's remark, "We can't leave the area while we're still in the service so this is our only chance to apprehend him! Prove he's a lying, disgusting, womanizing bastard!"

"That's just the problem," Sakura ground out. She was starting to get irritated, especially since she could feel a headache coming on, "We have no proof! Nada! None! How can we apprehend the guy? Leave it, Naruto. We've got the Sand patrollers and training to worry about,"

"We squeeze the truth out of him!" Naruto declared. "He's definitely guilty! I can feel it. Just look at him! Check out his greasy, slicked back hair and say to my face that you think he's a good guy. We gotta get the truth outta him!"

"How, then?" Shikamaru asked, raising a brow.

"I already have a plan!" Naruto said, delighted that they were somehow finally considering his brilliance. He ran to the far side of the tent, rummaged inside his bag, and pulled out a few scrolls. He spread them on the table. The other three stared at the contents. The scrolls were riddled with scribbles, diagrams, badly drawn maps—and several pictures of big breasted women wearing overly provocative clothes. Sakura grimaced at the sight.

"Isn't this just your porno stack, Namikaze?" Kiba asked, looking rather dryly at the photos of the women.

"No, no, that's part of my plan!" Naruto looked excited now. "I was thinking of getting one of these big sisters to seduce Hidan and get some information!"

"Who _are _these women?" Shikamaru asked, frowning.

"They work at the pub we were in last night. Thing is, I don't think we can trust them to keep quiet about the whole operation," Naruto sighed, looking considerably crestfallen. "They'll surely blab, and it'll make the Leaf soldiers look bad,"

"_This _is why the Leaf needs to enlist female soldiers!" Kiba said tossing the pictures back to the table.

Inside her head, Sakura nodded fervently.

"Your plan has more holes than a fishing net," Shikamaru remarked bluntly.

Naruto groaned, "If I could convincingly dress up as a woman I'd do it myself! But even if you put ten layers of makeup and force me to wear those frilly, itchy looking dresses who would I be able to fool?!"

The table fell silent. Sakura then felt all three pairs of eyes staring rather intently at her. She stared back, eyebrows narrowed. "What?"

* * *

"Bastards. Idiots. Morons," Sakura chanted under her breath as she stuck her arms through the sleeves of a rather flashy red and yellow kimono. Her lips were coated in bright red lipstick and a pair of heavy chandelier earrings weighted both of her ears down. She wanted to tell them that forcing her to wear those flashy earrings was unnecessary if they were going to dump a long wig on her head, but she didn't want to seem informed about 'womanly' knowledge.

Finally, she pinned back stray pink locks from her forehead before donning the long black wig that Naruto bought from some shady shop. Finally, she stepped out of the room (that they had rented as their 'espionage headquarters'—as Naruto put it), irritably pulling the kimono's long, heavy train behind her.

Kiba was the first to react, "Holy shit, Haruno. You look like a girl!"

"Perfect!" Naruto looked too gleeful, it was almost scary, "Just perfect! Hidan will be all over you!—Uh, I mean—you look expertly disguised, Akira! That snake Hidan will never see right through it," He said, slowly backing away to a corner after noticing Sakura's murderous expression.

Shikamaru handed a small black device, which looked like a really badly designed earring. "So we can communicate. Just pin it on your ear. It's sensitive enough to catch what you're saying so we can find out if something goes wrong,"

Naruto waved away his concerns carelessly, "What on earth could go wrong? Akira is a dude,"

Sakura looked down to fix some imaginary problem on her kimono to hide her pale face.

Even for someone who had dated at least three guys before, there was something very hard about sidling over to a guy in a pub, especially if said guy had bad rumours following him around like a shadow. She easily distinguished him from the rest of the men by his pale hair. He was about as tall as Sasuke, though more muscular and bulkier. He was dressed in dark clothes that made his pale hair stand out more, and even Sakura had to admit that he was very good-looking. In a dangerous kind of way.

With the calming thought that Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba were watching her from the shadows, she sidled up to him as confidently as she could. He noticed her immediately, raised an eyebrow, smiled, and gestured to the seat beside him. She sat and he handed her a drink. She tried not to wrinkle her nose at it. She didn't drink, but pub girls always downed alcohol like men, so she did her best to drink the whole shot glass. It took all of her willpower not to grimace at the taste. The drink made her throat heat up.

God, she hated alcohol.

"You're a lovely thing," He said with a steady voice. He was sober, "New, though, right? Haven't seen you before,"

She nodded, then cringed at her own silence. Weren't brothel girls supposed to be confident and talkative?

The foreigner didn't turn away uninterested. He seemed like the type of who preferred inexperienced girls, the type who liked to be the one to coax them out of their shells. Sakura tried not to squirm in her seat. She realized that the heavy kimono she was wearing would make it hard for her to move around quickly if worse comes to worst. She almost laughed at her situation.

Here she was, a girl pretending to be a boy soldier pretending to be a brothel girl. _Kami _liked playing around with her life.

"So, what's your story?"

"What do you mean?"

He leaned back slightly, staring at her almost lazily with keen brown eyes. "Stories, everyone has one. Last night a brown haired beauty told me she was sold away at a young age. Before that, a pale haired one told me she has a sick little brother, an alcoholic father, a dead mother, and very little money, hence her job. And way before that there was a black haired lady, like you, just a little less pretty, who has a father with a huge debt, and she knew he was going to sell her out, so she ran away and sold herself before he did, and now she has a small property in Grass and has a considerable amount of disposable income. Very smart girl. So, why are _you _here?"

_Ah, that's easy. I'm a noblewoman from a dying clan, disguised as a boy soldier, disguised as a brothel girl to gain information that may help hasten your prosecution. Nothing special._

"I'm from Waterfall," She started. He raised a brow at that, just slightly, and waited for her to go on.

"I came here because—because of the war. I wanted to—I guess, make money for myself. So that—so that whatever the outcome may be, peace or war, I'll have something to live by. I've no family, you see."

"Never?" He asked, though he didn't sound sceptical.

"Never. I mean, I wouldn't know. I spent most of my childhood in an orphanage," _Lame. Lame. Lame. That sounded like a line from a particularly awful noir theatre drama. _

He studied her for a while, "You're from Waterfall, right?"

"Yes,"

"I came from a small village myself," He said, taking another of swig of his drink, "It wasn't a particularly nice village either. Small and cramped, not enough interesting people. I think I was the most interesting of them all. And you know what people do with special people. They shun them, they teach their kids to be afraid of them, all because their beliefs are different from yours. So I left. It wasn't hard. I detested those lot—those heathens,"

"So, that means you travel a lot,"

"I suppose. I never stay in one place for too long,"

"Ever been in other Lands? Land of Earth? Land of Wind? Land of _Water_?"

He glanced at her, his eyes giving her a slow once over, that she almost flushed red. Then he flashed his easy, laid-back smile, "Travel stories bore most women,"

"Not me!" She hastily defended. The conversation was finally shifting to something more interesting. If he could just let slip one—just _one—_thing about the Mist village, she'd be able to return to Naruto and the rest as an even better man, "I actually like History! I've never been to school, so—so meeting knowledgeable travellers is a big thing for me,"

"Okay, then, I'll oblige," Hidan replied, easing into a more comfortable position, "Which Land are you particularly interested in?"

"The Land of Water," She smiled sweetly.

He smiled so knowingly that her sweet facade faltered. But his expression eased back to its usual charming state that she started thinking she was just imagining things, "The Land of Water, I see. It's an interesting place—has a fascinating history and intriguing traditions. There is one such tradition of encouraging fight to the deaths in the Military Academy among the younger students. It's an effective way to produce talented soldiers, I heard. Soldiers who have already killed won't hesitate as much as the ones that haven't killed yet. Eliminates the chances of hesitation in battle, which eliminates potential openings for the enemy to slip through and make their kill. Interesting, don't you think?"

Sakura was starting to sweat a bit underneath her heavy black wig, "You're not joking, are you?"

"Of course not, Miss!" He laughed at her pale face, "Why would I joke to someone genuinely interested in my travel stories? I don't get a lot of chances to share them after all,"

"That's—so gruesome," She wrinkled her nose, "Horrible, in fact,"

"Really? Everyone over there thinks it's perfectly logical, though. Maybe you would have thought it was logical too if you'd been born in the Mist,"

"Absolutely not. I wouldn't," She said firmly. Because it was true. She was a medic. It went against everything she thought was right.

"What would _you _know about war, though? Or about life as a man?"

"You'd be surprised," She gave him a steady look, then immediately regretted her words. She had a nasty temper and could easily be riled up. She grew more pale-faced when she realized just how much she had given away. She hoped this person was as dumb as Naruto proclaimed he was.

He only laughed, though, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Hidan struck her as the kind of guy that didn't put much value on the things women say. He probably thought all members of her gender were brainless, clueless, moving slabs of meat who didn't know what they were saying most of the time. She made a mental note to keep her temper in check, next time. Her competitive nature, although useful at times, was _not _needed here.

The flow of their conversation lingered on the Land of Water. She kept on asking questions about the Mist as casually as she could, almost as if she were making a game of how much information she could pry out of him until the first wave of suspicion. He was a confident, easy-going talker. He knew a lot about the Land of Water, but nothing that could suggest he knew _too_ _much._ She drummed her fingers on the wooden table, impatiently wondering when the alcohol was going to take effect. This would be a lot easier if he were even just a little bit intoxicated. But despite shot glass after shot glass he was downing, his manner and speech was crisp and clear. No sign of fuzziness whatsoever.

The problem was, _she _didn't know just how much alcohol she could take. She didn't want to make a single slip. Not here. Certainly not when she didn't even have a knife in her boot. Heck, she wasn't even wearing boots.

"What, you're interested in politics, too?"

She kept her saccharine smile on, "Well-informed men just intrigue me,"

She hoped that by boosting his ego a little, he'd be a little less guarded. That was what kept her going. She could feel that he was holding things back, which could mean that he did know something. That there was some truth to the nasty rumours clinging to his shadow.

He must have been just a little bit drunk, because he moved his arm to get the bottle, clumsily knocking it down in the process. It spilled on his shirt, and he cursed softly, standing up. Sakura automatically grabbed some paper towels from the table and wiped his shirt.

"Are you alright? Are you drunk?" She asked as she tried to wipe off the liquid, with no noticeable success.

"Perhaps. Just a little bit," He looked embarrassed at this as he took the paper towels from her and did the wiping himself.

"Can you—drink some more?" It was a strange question, but now that he was finally a bit drunk, maybe she could finally get something out of him.

"I could, but not with this sopping shirt," He frowned, "Can you get my room keys for me? I left them at the desk. The desk is just outside, but you knew that, didn't you?"

In fact, she didn't, so she was glad he said it. She nodded and walked outside, subtly looking around to try and see where Naruto and company were. They were well hidden, that was for sure. She procured the room keys with little trouble. She only had to say his name. That and her brothel girl attire secured the rest. Hired girls probably did this for their drunk clients all the time.

She walked back to the war and handed him the keys, "Here you go, Sir,"

"Thank you," He ruffled her black wig a bit, with a gesture so fond that she smiled despite herself.

Hidan tried to walk off by himself, but stumbled in the process, almost knocking into a particularly tall, muscular man. The man turned away from the well-endowed woman he was with to glare at Hidan, and Sakura had to settle herself in between them and pasted on her face the best pleading expression she could, "I'm so sorry, Sir, he didn't mean to. He's particularly intoxicated this evening,"

The man looked belligerent, but his expression softened at the sight of her. She must look particularly young and inexperienced in his eyes because he begrudgingly turned away to bask once more in the presence of the woman beside him. The woman sneered at Sakura, her gaze momentarily landing on her obviously less-endowed front, before turning her attentions back to her client.

A vein ticked on Sakura's forehead, _The nerve!_

But before her temper gave way, she placed Hidan's arm around her shoulder and guided him out of the bar. This was perfect. Absolutely perfect. He was drunk, he could barely stand, and as far as she knew, he was at her mercy. Maybe she could just ask straightforwardly and he'd blurt out everything he knew and was guilty of. When she found his room, she inserted the key and opened the door before easing herself, and the drunk man particularly hanging off her shoulders, inside.

Once they got inside, though, Hidan's intoxicated state seemed to have worn off in an instant. He straightened himself up, surprising her, and closed the door, locking it, too, in the process. He slipped the keys smoothly in his pockets just as Sakura finally turned around to face him. His casual, good-humoured nature seemed to have dissolved away entirely. In turn, Sakura allowed her sweet, saccharine facade to slip away. They faced each other, brown eyes locked on green, both sizing each other up.

"From Waterfall, right?"

"Right,"

"Me too, actually," An amused expression crossed his face as Sakura's composure slipped. How could she have forgotten? And such an important fact, too. Cold dread settled in the pit of her stomach when she realized that he must have been suspicious since the beginning.

"Yours is a face I haven't seen before, actually," He continued.

She was silent. She knew making up more excuses was useless. "Fine, then I'm not from Waterfall,"

"So where are you from?"

"That's hardly any of your business, is it?" She said in a belligerent tone despite the prickle of fear that was stubbornly filling her senses. She felt light-headed.

"I think it is. Because you've been snooping through my head all night. Asking stupid questions, thinking I wouldn't see through everything. You insult my intelligence, Lady,"

His eyes were alert now. His arms were folded together in front of him and he was observing her keenly, probably taking his time making deductions in his head. Meanwhile, she tried to make a quick survey of the room without removing her attentions from him. The door was right in front of her, but it was locked, and Hidan stood in front of it. He was a tall, strongly built man. Tackling him down to get the keys and get through the door was _not _an option. It wasn't even a possibility. Especially not with her ridiculously heavily clothing. The room was small, dingy, with a medium-sized bed pushed against a wall with a small desk and a lamp beside it. There was only one window. It was wide and could easily accommodate her small frame if she wished to escape that way, but it was bolted from the inside. Bolted, but not locked, but she didn't know if she could open it before Hidan manages to stop her. There was one more door, and she had enough common sense to know it led to the bathroom.

Hopeless. That's when her knees began to wobble.

Then she broke out in cold sweat when she realized he had called her _Lady._

"You're from the Leaf," Hidan said, eyes still on her, "Judging from your appearance and your ridiculously well-mannered personality, a Lady from a clan. Not the Hyuga, not the Yamanaka, certainly not the Akimichi. Uchiha, possibly from an intermarriage, but there's something distinctly non-Uchiha about you. I've met some of them. A very unpleasant lot. So you might be from some minor clan. Which is it?"

She didn't answer. From someone who was supposedly 'dumb as a horse's ass' _(gee, thanks for the tip, Naruto)_ his deductions were surprisingly accurate. The last thing she could do to save herself was not to let him know she was with the military.

"Tell me who you are. Who sent you," He flicked a microscopic piece of dirt from his damp shirt, "I've been spied on countless of times before, but you're the first woman—a Lady, even!—to do it. You're not just paid to do it. Nobody born in a clan would be short enough on money to consider doing something as dangerous as this."

"Are you sure I'm from a clan?" She asked, trying to mess with him. "I might be some desperate commoner. Haven't thought of that possibility?"

Hidan snorted, "I've thought of _every _possibility, Lady, ever since you sat down in that chair and told me you were from Waterfall,"

Sakura bit her lip.

"You might not notice small things like this yourself, but you are ridiculously well-bred. You're pretending to be a brothel girl, and you _clearly _can't do it properly. Why? Because you were not born in an environment where you get to visit pubs and brothels so easily. You obviously haven't met a brothel girl before. Obviously the posh daughter of some posh Lord and Lady. Your speech is too perfect—pronunciation, even the words you use are posh. Let me tell you this, people who work in these—" He waved his arms around him, "—kind of establishments all speak the same. Vulgar slangs, weird pronunciations, that sort of thing. Just from your speech, Lady, I knew you didn't belong here,"

"You don't, either," She remarked, trying not to make her voice tremble so much, "You're not dumb,"

Then feeling much bolder, she said, "You are a Jashinist?"

He tilted his head, "Correct. How'd you know?"

She pointed at the string of beads peeking out from his collar, "Rosary. And you come from Waterfall. Easy enough,"

He agreed, "Transparent. But we're not here to talk about _me, _are we? I simply want you to tell me who you are. You don't have to make this difficult,"

She _absolutely _couldn't tell him who she was. "I'm nobody,"

He stepped towards her and she almost, _almost, _changed her mind when he pressed something cold and sharp against her throat. He wasn't even holding her or anything. What was this, some sort of sick power play? Knew he was bigger, stronger, probably faster, and that she was completely under his mercy? She had to run, move away, tackle him, _anything._

Instead, she froze.

He frowned. The weapon cut just a little bit deeper, just deep enough to draw blood, and all of her pride and half-formed plans were completely forgotten as instinct overtook her and she opened her mouth to release a blood curdling scream.

The door beat her to it. It slammed open with a loud _bang _and she jumped back. Once the blade was within considerable distance from her throat, she managed to take control of her legs once again and dove out of the way. She huddled to a corner, folding her legs in front of her and hugging them like a child would.

Someone strode in, dark military coat billowing behind him. It was, of all people, Sasuke Uchiha. She could barely see his face but she'd know that tall, lithe figure anywhere. Because he was the type of person you'd recognize anywhere. The type of person _she'd _recognize anywhere.

She felt like she could look at him forever.

Sakura was huddled in a corner, her own arms wrapped tightly around herself. Within seconds, the soldiers had hauled the struggling Hidan out of the room (and into the lobby where Naruto tackled him to the ground. There he was bloodied up bad by Naruto and Kiba).

Sasuke approached the huddled figure, "Haruno,"

Sakura looked up and Sasuke drew back, surprised. He looked at her, and her at him, for quite some time before Sakura broke the silence.

"Sir,"

Sasuke sighed, "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head.

"I'm not. I'm—tired," she swallowed. She was more than tired.

Sasuke tucked his blade back inside his coat and offered his hand. She took it, hands shaking slightly. Sasuke let her go first, but not before eyeing her brothel girl ensemble with keen, dark eyes.

"I first though Hidan would have been two halves short of a whole brain to mistake a guy for a girl, but looking at you—I'd be easily fooled, too,"

She pressed her fingers against the crook of her neck, right where the blade was pressed, "How did you—"

But he had turned away, and she had to swallow up her question and trail behind him with her head down and her hands clasped in front. When they stepped out of the dingy room, Naruto was looking at her with so much relief and happiness that she forgot how angry she was at him. Kiba awkwardly patted her black wig.

"How did—"

Shikamaru reached for her ear, and she tried not to flinch away. "Transmitter, remember? Naruto got a defective one, but we could easily tell when your conversation wasn't going—as planned," He looked guilty, "We would have broken into the room. We would have. Obviously they wouldn't have given us the key, and Naruto had already decided to beat down the door, but then Sir Uchiha was here with a bunch of other soldiers and heard Naruto arguing with the guy at the desk, and so—well, it was troublesome. They demanded an explanation and Kiba had to explain that you were—for some reason, in a room with a dangerous guy, dressed as a girl—and, well—" He scratched his head. "It's a long, troublesome story."

"It must've been a long one," Sakura remarked scathingly. She couldn't keep the biting tone out of her voice, "It must've been a bloody long story if it took you this long to open a bloody door,"

Shikamaru, for the first time since she'd met him and Naruto in the forest two months ago, looked down with a guilty expression. It didn't suit him. Sakura immediately softened her tone, "I agreed to this, though. And I'm fine. I'm—I was—I was just a bit scared, I guess,"

Hidan, his mouth filled with blood, sneered at the Uchiha standing beside her, "Didn't know how desperate the Leaf was. Are you really _that _short on soldiers?"

"What is that supposed to mean," Sasuke looked at him coldly.

"That!" He pointed a finger at Sakura, "Sending a woman to spy on me. Don't tell me the Leaf enlists their Ladies in the army? How pitiful,"

"He's crazy," Shikamaru put in, surprising everyone.

"No, he's just stupid," Kiba added, glaring at the foreigner, a wild, almost animal-like look in his eyes, "And if he's not as stupid as he seems, he'll shut up. Right now,"

The pale-haired man laughed and shrugged, but didn't say anything.

Choji, one of the officers that came with Sasuke, deliberately pushed through the others and settled his large body between the foreigner and Sakura, blocking them from each other's view. He looked down kindly at Sakura, "Let's go?"

Sakura swallowed, "Yeah. Thanks, Sir,"

Surprisingly, the officers that came with Sasuke didn't have to drag Hidan along kicking and screaming. He went with them, calmly, even sticking his hands out in a mockingly polite manner so they could handcuff him. Sakura walked beside Sasuke at the front of the team, and she could feel the pale-haired man's eyes boring through her back from behind. She mustered up all the courage she could and tried not to make her knees wobble so much. She chanced a glance at Sasuke, and saw that his eyes were on her, too, though he quickly looked away that she thought if might have been her imagination.

"Normally, I don't meddle in Privates' idiotic stunts," Sasuke said, eyes still straight ahead, "This is a special case. It's for helping me with the poison back then."

"Oh, uh—there's no need," She looked down and noticed that he was still visibly limping. The muscle weakness wore off within two weeks but he was left with a limp. She knew it was going to heal eventually, though. She didn't want to talk about medicine. She didn't want him to ask her where she had learned, so she changed the subject.

"What's going to happen to him? To Hidan?" She asked in a low voice, lest the man in question would hear.

"We're taking him in for questioning, though I still don't know if we'll be able to find reason to lock him up," Sasuke replied..

Sakura thought she might faint, "You're—not going to lock him up?"

"No grounds for imprisonment," He replied, "He didn't hurt you. No traces of violence. Can't be harassment either since—" He looked sideways at her, "—you're not a girl,"

Sakura tried not to flinch away from his look. "Yeah, that's right,"

"We're just going to bring him in for questioning,"

If Choji, who was walking on her other side, thought anything of the conversation, he didn't show it. He just walked ahead, looking as calm as he normally did.

It seemed that for the night, Hidan wouldn't be the last of her problems, because standing in front of the Interrogations tent was the tall, lithe figure of Hyuga Neji. He was flanked by two other soldiers—also Hyugas, judging from the color of their eyes—and raised a brow when Sasuke and his peculiar party drew near. He glanced over at them all; a very flashily dressed girl with thick black hair was standing beside his fellow First Lieutenant, head down, hands clasped tightly—almost tensely—together, and behind them a rather beat up pale-haired man who was smiling easily through his bleeding mouth and bruised up jaw, and he was flanked by other soldiers including the Fourth's troublemaker son, his Inuzuka friend, and the Nara heir.

"What's this, Uchiha?" The Hyuga almost looked amused. "Picked up a circus?"

"Yes, a circus of idiots," The Uchiha replied. Sakura had never seen any two people who matched each other so much in height, build, skill and power as these two. Although, to be fair, she liked the Hyuga better because she had many chances to see how well he treated Hinata. Incidentally, whenever Neji comes home from wherever the military takes him, Hinata suddenly has a new dress or a new-expensive-something, and Sakura knew that wasn't just a coincidence.

"Oi, Hyuga!" Naruto exclaimed from the back in his usual, pumped-up way, and Sakura cringed at his lack of respect and the casual way he omitted the honorific 'Sir' from Neji's last name, "This snake needs to be locked up,"

To Sakura's surprise, the Hyuga looked on calmly—almost politely— at Naruto and said, "This guy? Why?"

"Because he's a sneaky, sleazebag of a snake!" The blond said impatiently, "Look at his slicked back hair. What kind of good guy does his hair like that? And isn't he rumoured to be affiliated with the Land of Water?"

Neji frowned, "Well, I can't just arrest someone on the spot, Naruto. We'll need to find out more about him. Formal protocol,"

Sakura was taken aback by the friendly way the Hyuga addressed Naruto. She didn't think she'd ever seen him act like this to anyone but fellow Hyugas before. She respected Naruto herself, but she didn't think _Hyuga Neji _did.

The soldiers led the foreigner into the Interrogations' tent with Sasuke trailing behind them, followed by Neji and Naruto who were conversing casually. Sakura almost sighed in relief and was about to sneak back to their tent when the Hyuga turned back sharply and his pale eyes met her green ones. She froze on the spot, all the air leaving her lungs. Naruto turned back to see what he was staring at, "Ah, Akira, why don'tcha change back at your tent? I'll take care of that snake for 'ya,"

Naruto then steered Neji away by the elbow, Sakura could hear snippets of their conversation as they left.

"A boy? _That_?"

"Yeah! Amazing, isn't it! Makeup is amazing! Now I'm starting to wonder what the girls back in the Leaf _really_ look like,"

Sakura rushed back to their tent, hanging her head down and ignoring the stares that followed her as she passed the training grounds where a few soldiers were conversing. When she got to the tent, the other Privates they were sharing the tent with were there, and they looked at her, slack-jawed. She, then, violently ripped out the black wig, releasing her hair and smearing the makeup off with the sleeve of the flashy kimono.

A Private, Hakuzoku, spit out his water, "_Haruno?!"_

"Bloody hell, it's just you," Another one said, putting his head in his hands, "And I actually thought _Kami _listened to my prayers,"

"Shut up, just shut up, all of you," Sakura growled as she dug into her bag, grabbed her uniform, and ducked out of the tent to find a private place to change.

* * *

Sasuke left the tent before he could strangle the pale-haired man. He was a potty-mouthed, sarcastic bastard; it was so easy to lose your temper when interrogating someone like him. He pretty much dodged and deflected every question, injecting sarcasm here and there. It was enough to make his blood boil under his icy exterior. He decided to leave the man to the Yamanakas. Interrogation wasn't his speciality, anyway. And besides, his limp was aching worse than ever.

Then Itachi exited the tent in front of him. Sasuke turned around to duck back inside the Interrogations' tent, just to avoid his brother, but then Itachi called out to him good naturedly.

"Sasuke? I hope you weren't trying to ignore me,"

"I would never do that," Sasuke growled, though his voice clearly stated otherwise.

Itachi chuckled lightly. Then he assumed a more serious expression, "The patrollers stationed outside the village have reported two small scale raid attempts near the agricultural areas. I've arranged for more sentinels outside, as well as inside, the village."

Sasuke grunted back, eager to get away.

"The Hyuga have dispatched their own private police, as well,"

Sasuke was already trying to move away inconspicuously.

"Don't worry, though, there are plenty of sentinels around the manors of the minor clans, too. I've also given special instructions to pay attention to the Harunos,"

Sasuke stopped edging away. He stared at his brother who stared back at him pleasantly.

"I did it for you," Itachi smiled good-naturedly. Sasuke expressed his thanks with a venomous look.

He turned away, suddenly conscious of his limp. He made an effort to ignore the pain and walk as straight as he could. He never liked showing weakness in front of his brother. He hated how everyone thought Itachi was a million times better than he was. Sasuke worked a lot harder. Why didn't anyone ever see that?

"No thanks?" Itachi called out with an amused voice.

"Thanks," Sasuke responded with a voice that sounded anything but grateful. He seethed as he went, inwardly cursing his older brother and his inconvenient limp. He hated how Itachi was always better. He also hated how Itachi could read him like a book. He especially hated how _he _couldn't read Itachi at all. Itachi wasn't even in the marriage candidate dinner, but he knew that Sasuke liked the pink-haired lady, anyway. It was annoying, how Itachi always seemed to know everything.

**.**

**TBC**

* * *

A/N: soldier sakura dressed as a girl was a request from a close friend. she said that crossdressing stories are never complete unless they involve double crossdressing: a girl dressing as a guy dressing as a girl. lmao xD


	6. 05

**05: coming of age**

* * *

Sakura cursed as her foot slipped into yet another mud puddle. She hoisted her large pack over one shoulder so she could bend and extricate her foot from the mud. Her heavy combat boots did nothing to ease her journey and she was growing even more irritated with each passing day. Shikamaru had been sighing and grumbling nonstop, but at least he seemed to know exactly where the solid parts of the ground were, and didn't have to pull his foot from the mud every few minutes.

Their small camp was traversing through the borders separating the Land of Fire from the Land of Water. The area was a dark (even in the afternoon light) and damp marshland, with no signs of life except from the buzzing mosquitoes and the craggly trees growing out of the salt water. It was particularly foggy on that day, and that plus the abundant herbacious vegetation growing out of the damp ground led to almost zero visibility when it comes to detecting mud puddles. By the time they stopped, Sakura was irritated and wet and her boots were sopping with salt water and soil.

The Leaf's camp was slightly hidden by the natural murk that seemed to permeate the gloomy saltmarshes, and it took Sakura a while before she spotted the encampment. They were ushered in stiffly, not a single friendly face in sight. Everyone else that were already in the camp looked tired and disheveled; pale skin from the lack of sunlight and heavy dark bags underneath their eyes. The only one that seemed well enough was a guy with a strange bowl cut and heavy dark brows. He greeted them one by one with enthusiasm that seemed so out of place.

"Hello there, Mister Nara," He said when Sakura and Shikamaru finally entered the gates.

Shikamaru gave a salute. Startled, Sakura followed suit. "Afternoon, Sir,"

Bushy brows nodded amicably before turning his attention to Sakura. He tilted his head quizzically, "And...?"

"Haruno, Sir," She said.

"Came from Waterfall. You wouldn't know him," Shikamaru supplied helpfully.

"Ah, that explains it! I made an effort to get to know everyone in the Military Academy you see, so I was a bit surprised back there," He grinned, then started greeting the other Privates further along the line.

"Quite a boisterous fellow, huh," Shikamaru chuckled lightly.

"Reminds me of our Naruto," Sakura nodded with a laugh.

Naruto. She wondered if she would ever get the chance to see him, again. Kiba, too. After they were transferred out to the newly established camp near the borders of Rain and the Land of Wind, she never saw the two of them, nor any of the other privates that were with them, again. And soon after, she was transferred, along with Shikamaru, to the Leaf war camp located in the gloomy saltmarshes near the Land of Water borders.

Most of the camp was built on elevated wooden scaffolds supported by large wooden poles, probably because the water from the ocean flooded the marshes on a daily basis. Sakura wrinkled her nose while they were being given a brief tour around the encampment by a rather stiff and tired looking officer who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. The area was cursed by the peculiar smell that permeated the rest of the marshlands; a mixture of old salt water and organic decay.

They were grouped together according to whoever was standing beside them, and to Sakura's delight, she was with Shikamaru. They were to share their sleeping quarters with a higher officer that had been in the camp for months now. The officer turned out to be strange, solemn guy who didn't talk much and smiled even less. He offered his name and his greetings and returned to whatever he was doing without a single peep.

This suited Shikamaru just fine, who didn't care who the hell he was rooming with as long as he wasn't some annoying loud mouth. The tent was too big for the three of them. It was meant for six soldiers, their new roomie had said, but since hardly anybody gets assigned in the marshlands, he'd been staying here alone all this time.

"Must have been a bit lonely, huh," Sakura remarked, trying to strike up a conversation with their weird roomie.

"No, I liked it that way," Was her only reply.

She shut up after that.

* * *

It must have been the fog, after all, that made everyone seem so gloomy and tired, because Sakura was normally a morning person, but it seemed that waking up to all the murk and chill made her a, well, a _not morning _person. Shikamaru was still Shikamaru. She had to kick him awake (this used to be Naruto's job).

Their mysterious new roomie was already up and about when she awoke, because his sleeping bag was already rolled up and tucked neatly into a corner. She followed his example, and watched with amusement as Shikamaru kicked his until it rolled up into a corner alongside hers.

Morning in the new camp was, well, far from the morning she was used to. It was brighter yes, but the fog was as thick as ever. For breakfast, they were served stew and bread. The stew was a bit salty to the taste (she tried not to think about where they could have possibly gotten the salt) with chopped meat in it (she hoped it wasn't the meat of some reptile. The marshes were full of them) but at least the water was normal. She half expected it to be salty.

"Hey! Is the food okay?"

They looked up to the sound of the friendly voice. It was the officer from yesterday, Rock Lee. Normally, loud and overly friendly people like him would have annoyed her, but he reminded her so much of Naruto that couldn't resist smiling. "Yes, Sir. It isn't bland, at least,"

He grinned broadly, "Well! Our workers here make the best of the marshes,"

Sakura forced herself to keep the smile in place. That one statement seemed to confirm her earlier suspicions about the food.

"Oh! Was Neji with you? Back at the other camp you were stationed in,"

Sakura raised a brow. Yet another person who called Hyuga Neji's name in a casual way. She didn't expect the stiff Hyuga prodigee to have this many close friends.

"He was. But he left earlier than we did; to the camp near Rain," Shikamaru answered in his bored, drawling voice.

Fuzzy brows frowned, "Ah, I see. I was hoping to at least see him. Then the person assigned here is-"

"Sir Uchiha Sasuke," Sakura finished for him. The name felt strange when she said it, and she was self conscious about it. However, she found herself wanting an excuse to say his name over and over again.

God. She sounded like a mooning village girl.

Which was fine, really, but not when she was pretending to be a boy in a military camp smack dab in the middle of an impending war.

Lee nodded, "Yes, yes, Mister Uchiha is a great asset. We're definitely greatful to have him around,"

He exchanged a few more polite words with them before going on to the next table. "Hi! Is the food okay?" He said once again to the Privates in the other table.

"He certainly tries his best to make this wet blanket of a place into a paradise of sunbeams and rainbows," Shikamaru chuckled lightly.

Sakura nodded, "It's great, though, to have someone like him around. A single smiling face will do. Everyone here looks so tired,"

"I am, too, you know,"

"But you're always tired," Sakura retorted dryly.

* * *

Girls. That's what everyone in the camp seemed to be talking about lately. Girlfriends back home, unrequited loves, all that romantic stuff. It seemed weird to hear grown boys talking about such girly things, but Sakura kind of understood. In this gloomy camp where everything beyond the fog is a mystery (could be a small frog, could be an enemy with a blade in hand) it must be quite easy to think of the possibility of death. The possibility of not going back home. And there their weaknesses surface.

She was on watch duty, a rather boring and tedious assignment. There was nothing much to watch anyway, the thick fog certainly made sure of that. She was sitting on top of the wooden scaffold overlooking the barred up entrance of the camp with a handheld periscope and a fellow Private who seemed to miss a girl back home so badly. She wanted to comfort him, truly she did, but not when mosquitoes kept biting the exposed skin where her sleeves and gloves failed to meet. She only felt annoyed.

She'd been on watch duty for close to a week now, and nothing eventful ever did happen. Not that she wasn't grateful. Of course she was. Uneventful meant safe, and safe meant more chances for her to go home. She certainly did not want to be carried home inside a coffin.

Suddenly, she stiffened. Trailing her eyes across the foggy landscape, she felt a bead of sweat drip down her neck.

She _thought _she heard a splash.

"Did you hear that?" She asked the other private quietly.

He gave her a dumb look. "Heard what?"

It could have been her imagination. It was close to one in the morning and she _was _getting a bit drowsy. It could have been a splash from a frog. It may not have seem like it at first, but she gradually realized that the saltmarshes were brimming with life, some invisible to the naked eye. Reptiles slithered around, moquitoes buzzed, bacteria and yeast gradually decomposing the dead; all of this making up the stink of the marshlands.

And yet Sakura was frightened and on edge. What was so different about this particular splash?

She kicked her fellow Privates' shoulder lightly, "Wake someone up,"

"Huh?"

"Wake someone up. Anyone. First Lieutenant Uchiha, Colonel Morino. Go, alright? I don't like this,"

As the Private left, Sakura took out her pistol and squinted at the murk. It could be nothing, of course, and she was prepared to receive her share of curses once this proved to be a false alarm.

She hopped down carefully to the lower scaffolding for a better view. She allowed her feet to dangle as she sat down and peered around with the periscope. So far so good. No shadows of any sort. She breathed a sigh of relief as she peered around once more. Like this, she was able to appreciate the saltmarshes. The unique scent of salt water and soil, mingling together. Just this morning, water from the ocean flooded into the marsh, bringing with it small fishes and sand. The water beneath must be deeper than normal tonight.

She was lost in thought about how to explain to the Colonel, when two ice cold hands gripped her ankles and dragged her into the water.

* * *

The Land of Water, as its name would imply, was more water than land. There were islands scattered here and there, and right in the heart of it was Mist Village, a secretive little hodgepodge of the strange and the unknown. At least, that was how Sakura saw it.

Nobody knew much about the lands beyond the saltmarshes and the seas. Mist had always been detached from the rest of the lands, both because of the sea surrounding the isles and the suspicious nature of the people residing in it. It was no tourist attraction. Very little came and went. It's either you're born there and stay there, or go there and fail to return. The few who do go there and manage to return are often packed with peculiar tales.

It wasn't just a lawless land of anarchy like most people claim it is, it was a full functioning society hidden deep within the forbidding saltmarshes and beyond the vastly unexplored sea. Travelers claim the Mist is more of a large military base than a village, with their focus on military and experimental science. Labs and training grounds are more abundant than restaurants and parks, they say.

Meanwhile, there are those who have entirely different stories. The waters could make you grow gills and fins and gradually replace your skin with scales. The fog was poisonous, could make you sick and blind and mad. Because those who live within that isolated little isle are mad, they say, and they have green skin and unblinking reptilian eyes.

And they were terribly good swimmers.

* * *

Everything was pretty much a blur. The struggle underneath the cold water and her assailant's quick movements. She fought back as much as she could, her body ignoring the biting cold and the lack of air. She opened her mouth to scream when she felt a sharp pain on her leg. Salt water flooded the inside of her mouth. She thought her head would burst. She fought with everything she had to halt the movement of her enemy's arms, because his next target would be her chest. Or head. Anyhow, it wouldn't end so well.

_Bang!_

Red filled her vision. The saltwater had turned red. She screamed, not caring if she sounded like a girl. She screamed and screamed as she pushed away the body. She scampered away as fast as her trembling legs would carry her until she found herself in shallow water. She tumbled and tripped and she was sure she looked as pathetic as she felt, but for now all she wanted was to get away.

"Akira!" It was Shikamaru. He had scrambled down to the water. She allowed her legs to give way beneath her, and sank into his arms. Other Privates and high ranking officers were gathered around her, too, but most of them had spread out the area to deflect any more possible attacks.

She didn't want to faint, but she did anyway.

When she awoke, Shikamaru was still there. She realized she was in a proper bed, this time. The kind they reserved for the injured. For now, she wanted to ignore her pretensions. For now she wanted to be weak and scared. She wanted to be babied.

"Your legs and arms are still intact," Shikamaru informed her with a yawn. "You got stabbed pretty bad on your right leg, though,"

Her medic skills kicked in, "Infection..." she rasped out. Her throat felt dry.

"It was properly cleaned and treated," He assured her. He looked tired. Did he stay up for her?

Then a chill ran down her spine. She ignored her aching body in favor of removing the blanket and checking to see if they had changed her clothes. Because if they had-

It appears, they didn't.

"My...my clothes..."

"Ah, you want to change?" Shikamaru raised a brow. "The medic in charge removed your coat and cut off a huge chunk of your pants to clean your wound. He initially wanted to strip you fully to clean out the mud, but Uchiha gave orders to keep you fully clothed,"

Sakura blinked. "He what?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "I don't understand it either, but that's what he said. He said people from Waterfall are conservatives and whatnot, and he said you'd prefer to change your clothes by yourself, too. I dunno what the hell he's thinking, prioritizing your eccentricities in a time like this, but medics can't disobey him. He cleaned out the wound properly though, and you don't have any wounds anywhere else,"

"I...I, uh, that's right. I...I'd like to change by myself," Sakura wasn't sure if it was the splitting headache or the saltwater she swallowed, but she felt lightheaded and soon fell into a deep sleep once more.

The leg wound wasn't as bad as she thought it was. After only a day's rest, and with a nice cane the medic had kindly lent her, she was able to walk around camp. More than anything, she wanted to see her assailant's body. And she wanted to know what happened from someone else's point of view, since Shikamaru seemed to avoid her questions.

At the furthest end of the camp, there was a big tent that served as a kind of morgue. Dead bodies of Leaf soldiers were stored here until they could be sent back to their homes. Dead bodies of soldiers, meanwhile, were sent here to be examined for anything that might prove useful. Just as she was about to lift the flap of the tent, someone stopped her.

It was Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sir!" She gave him a wobbly salute. Her arms were still aching.

"What are you doing?"

"Just wanted to see the scout's body, Sir. I make it a...a point to look at their faces at least once."

He scoffed, "A useless, sentimental habit. Leave,"

"I have to," She replied with a small voice. He scared her, definitely, but she had to see the scout's face. She had to see him, so she could remember him. She didn't want to forget any of their faces. Because they'll never forget hers. The face of the person you see before you die...you'd definitely remember it forever, right? It was kind of silly, though, to think of it like that. Because they're dead. They don't remember.

"Leave, Haruno, or I'll toss you back to the marshes," Sasuke sneered, his hand keeping a firm grip on her shoulder.

She was well aware of the consequences of shoving a high ranking officer's hand away and disobeying direct orders, but she did it, anyway, and just as she squirmed out of his grip, she lifted the flap of the tent as far as it would go and what she saw inside stopped her.

Lying on top of the examination table, wearing standard Mist scouting uniforms, was a dead child.

* * *

He could not have been more than nine or ten years old.

Was that what Sasuke did not want her to see?

She felt someone shove a warm thermos in her direction. "I wasn't using my higher rank just to push you around, you know," His voice was icy as usual, but he didn't sound mad.

"I'm sorry," Sakura mumbled, accepting the thermos. "It's better that I saw, though. I don't want to stumble around in the dark like some ignorant fool. It's always better to know,"

"And look at you now, moping around like the brat you are," Sasuke shook his head as he always did whenever he was in haughty, condescending mode (which was pretty much always, to be honest)

"Still, it's better to know," Sakura's brows furrowed down, "You treated me like a child,"

She expected him to toss back another haughty remark, but he grew silent this time. She sneaked a look at him, and he looked almost thoughtful. Like he was remembering some memory, scraping bits and pieces of it from the back of his head. Judging from his expression, Sakura doubted it was a happy one. She was just beginning to see how tired he look. He looked like someone who saw far too much and was trying to reduce every image into nothing. Now he was calling them all back, because those bad images are exactly what you need to remind you. To make you remember, so you do a little bit better next time.

"The first time I killed a child, I was seventeen. He was Mist scout, too. He was eight, or so the medics who examined his body told me. I felt like a savage afterwards,"

He sighed and looked at her. His expression did not soften one bit, nor did his voice. Sakura got the distinct feeling she was being lectured. "His body was dumped along with the others and burned. He disturbed my dreams for months. But then my brother dragged me to the marshlands one day and, to my horror, showed me a little grave he made. The body wasn't buried underneath, of course, but there was a crude little engraving and flowers and everything. He practically held a knife to my neck and forced me to put flowers, too. After that, the dreams stopped,"

The fog was starting to clear, Sakura noted. There was one other thing she realized, too, "Someone shot the scout, I remember now. Was it-"

"It was," Sasuke nodded.

Sakura looked down at the ebbing waters. A frog darted from a clump of dense vegetation.

_Splash!_

She shivered. "I made you kill a child again, I-"

Sasuke scoffed, "I've killed more than twenty of those little scouts, as of date. It doesn't bother me now. They're enemies. They would have done the same to me,"

They fell silent again. Now that she thought about it, she was cold and hungry back then, but still, she managed to fight off the scout. Thinking back, it would have been impossible for her to overpower a grown man like that, but she did. Because it wasn't a grown man.

To her dismay, droplets of tears started escaping her eyes. She ducked her head and fought with all her might not to making snuffling sounds even though her nose was starting to clog up. She was here as Haruno Akira, a grown man of 20, and it was just plain insulting to be treated like a kid.

Finally, Sasuke broke the silence, and just then he sounded less like a First Lieutenant and more like a friend.

"You get it now, don't you? I wasn't treating you like a kid. I was treating you like a human,"

With her head still down, she screwed her wet eyes shut and allowed her voice to go back to its softer, normal version, "And humans cry, don't they?"

"Of course they do, brat,"

* * *

**TBC**

_a/n. thanks for reading!_


End file.
